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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 



Jersey City 



AND ITS 



Historic Sites 



BY 

HARRIET PHILLIPS EATON 



PUBLISHED BY 

THE WOMAN'S CLUB 

OF 

JERSEY CITY 



J5E1 



" Perhaps a remembrance of these things will prove a 
source of future pleasure. " 

' ' These who have insured their remembrance by their 
deserts. " — Virgil. 



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®o tlje 

(K;itijen0 of ^erserr CUttij, 

tijls book 10 mo0t coribtallrj tteMcatcb 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1899, 

By Harriet Phillips Eaton, 

in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



PBlSS or A. V. MAIGMT, fOU6MllttP6 i 



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CONTENTS. 



Sheyichbi and its People, 9 

The Lenni Lenape and their Customs lo 

Arrival of the Dutch, i3 

Wampum, i4 

The Relations of the Delawares with the Whites, . • i6 

Indian Names of Localities, i6 

Pavonia, . , ^^ 

Massacre of Indians, 19 

Indian Troubles • 20 

Communipaw, 22 

The First Ferry, 23 

The First Roads 24 

Bergen, 25 

Bergen Court, 27 

The First Schoolmaster 27 

School Houses, 28 

Early Ministers, 30 

The First Church 31 

The First Pall, 33 

The First Communion Set, 33 

The Second and Third Churches, 35 

Early Church Customs 35 

The Voorleezer, 37 

Church Funds, 38 

Marriages and Town Poor, 40 

Burial Customs, 4i 

Cemeteries, 44 

Paulus Hook, 47 

Paulus Hook Ferry, 47 

Revolutionary Period, 5o 

The Battle of Paulus Hook, 53 

Lafayette in Bergen, 57 

Sergeant Champe, ^^ 

Bergen Patriots, ^i 

Early Customs, ^-4 



Contents. 

New Years, 64 

General Training 65 

Early Dutch Recipes, 67 

Cooking by Open Fires 69 

Spinning and Weaving 71 

Candlemaking, 72 

Slavery, 74 

Lotteries, 74 

Jersey City, . . -. . . ... . . 75 

Municipal Changes 75 

Forming the City, . . . . . . . . 77 

Newark Turnpike, 78 

Robert Fulton, 80 

The Ferries, 81 

Edge's Windmill, 85 

City Hall and Schools 87 

Public School No. i, 88 

Scholarships, 89 

Post Office, 91 

Churches, 92 

Business Interests, ......... 94 

Jersey City Pottery, . ' 95 

Fire and Police Departments, 99 

Hudson County Bar, • . 99 

Street Lighting, 100 

Railroads, loi 

Steamships, 102 

Street Railways, 103 

Water Works, 105 

War Records: 

Army, 107 

Navy, no 

Militia, Ill 

Hospitals and Churches 117 

The Clubs, 120 

Libraries, 130 

Parks 133 

The City of To-day, 135 

The Old Houses, • . . 136 

The City of the Future, 143 



From the Minutes of the Literature 

Committee of the 

Woman's Club of Jersey City. 

At a meeting of the Committee January 5th, 1898, 
one of the subjects for the day was '' Jersey City's Old 
Landmarks." In the discussion that followed, Miss M. 
Louise Edge moved that Mrs. Eaton be requested to 
write a -short history of Jersey City, to be published by 
the Club: the proceeds of which to be used to erect 
memorial tablets on historic sites of the Colonial and 
Revolutionary periods. 

At the meeting of October 1 2th, 1898, Mrs. Eaton 
made the following report : 

Madam Chairman and Ladies of the Literature Com- 
mittee : 
I take pleasure in reporting that in accordance with 
the request of this Committee embodied in the motion 
made by Miss M. Louise Edge upon January 5th, 1898, 
I have prepared the story of Jersey City. My authori- 
ties have been : Winfield's History of Hudson County, 
The Jersey City Journal's History of Jersey City, 
Colonial and City Records, Versteeg's Translation of 



the Deacons Accounts of the Bergen Church, Taylor's 
Annals of the Classis and Township of Bergen, and 
numerous descendants of the old colonial families, — 
the Van Reypens, Van Horns, Van Winkles, Sips, New- 
kirks and many others, to all of whom I am greatly in- 
debted. Also to Dr. Brett, who has kindly assisted me 
with his great store of historic data. 

I wish particularly to express my great indebtedness 
to Mr. C. C. Van Reypen, who, with his wonderful 
memory and knowledge of Bergen, has been of invalu- 
able assistance to me. 

Respectfully submitted, 



SHEYICHBI AND ITS PEOPLE. 

Before the white race came to America, the locality 
now known as Jersey City, was occupied by a branch 
of the Minsi division of the Lenni Lanape Nation of 
the Red Men, and was called Sheyichbi. The whole of 
the present state of New Jersey belonged to the 
Lenape, and was occupied by bands bearing different 
names according to the special features of the locality, 
but all recognizing their unity as one people. Those 
who lived here, along the western shore of the New 
York Bay, extending to the sea, were known as the 
Wapings, or Pomptons, and were the first of the Le- 
nape to meet the white man when Verrezano visited 
this harbor in 1524. Their last home was along the 
Raritan river. The name Lenni Lenape means " Men 
of our Nation," and they claimed to be the oldest nation 
and root of the great Algonkin stock, which, in its 
various divisions, with forty distinct dialects, occupied 
this continent from Hudson's Bay to South Carolina, 
and from the Atlantic to the Mississippi and the great 
plains, with the exception of a portion east of the Lakes 
where the Huron Iroquois dwelt. The other Algonkin 
nations were spoken of by them as '' children," ** Grand- 
children," or "younger brothers," and to them was al- 
ways accorded the respectful title of *' grandfathers." 
Their traditions taught them that they came from 



10 Jersey City mid its Historic Sites. 

Shinaki, the "Land of the Fir Trees," which was prob- 
ably north of Lake Superior, and in their migrations 
they came upon the Cherokees, probably in the ninth 
or tenth century of our era, with whom they fought one 
hundred years for possession of the Ohio Valley. Final- 
ly the Cherokees went south and the Lenape eventual- 
ly, in the eleventh or twelfth century, made their home 
in the mountainous region of the head waters of the 
Delaware river. Their hunting grounds included lands 
now in Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey. In 
1758, New Jersey paid them $5,000 for their lands in 
this State. 

They were called by the western nations Wapenachki, 
— " People of the Rising of the Sun." The name Dela- 
ware was given to them and one of their rivers, after 
Lord de la Ware, which they at first resented but ac- 
cepted it after being told that he was a great " Brave." 
In character they were a noble spirited but gentle, 
kindly people, and all the early writers concur in 
testimony to their hospitality. Each family lived in its 
separate wigwam, a wattled hut with rounded top, 
thatched with mats woven of corn leaves, sweet flag, or 
bark of trees. These were built in groups and usually 
surrounded with palisades of small tree trunks firmly 
planted in the ground, sometimes two or three rows, 
interlaced, and from twenty to thirty feet in height. 
Their clothing was made of deer skin, soft and pliable 
and beautifully embroidered with wampum beads or 
dyed porcupine quills. In some of the arts they had 
attained great skill, excelling in dressing deer skins and 
in feather work ; carved stone, made ornaments of shell 
and a rude pottery, some in the shape of animals. 



Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 11 

They recognized the value of the Trenton clays and 
Indian potters used them for centuries before the white 
men came. While their weapons and utensils were 
principally of stone, they also used copper, both native 
New Jersey ore and that brought from Lake Superior, 
which they deftly hammered into shape. Old mining 
holes and Indian tools have been found between Eliza- 
bethtown and New York. Bowls were carved from 
wood and from soap-stone, kettles were made of the 
latter which would hold from ten to twelve gallons. 
They used both vegetable and mineral paints and dyes ; 
were very expert fishermen and hunters. 

They were accurate in computing time and had some 
astronomical knowledge ; women and children could 
give names to many of the stars, and their year began 
with the first moon after the February moon. The 
time for planting was calculated by the rising of Taurus 
in a certain quarter. To this constellation they gave 
the name of a mythical great horned beast. They had 
a word for year, and counted their ages and sequence 
of events by yearly periods, but recognized only twelve 
moons in the year. They kept a record of the years 
by adding a black bead of wampum for each year in a 
belt kept for the purpose. Their picture writing was 
scratched on stones or cut or painted on bark or wood. 
It was a record of current events, the past history of 
the nation, and in memory of famous men, events, and 
actions of note. They also recorded abstract ideas, as, 
when an Indian gave William Penn a drawing of the 
** Great Man " within a series of concentric circles as 
their idea of God. These picture writings were under- 
stood and could be read by the various branches of the 



12 Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 

Algonkin stock. Bunches of slender sticks notched or 
painted were also used as records. 

In religion, they worshipped Light and its repre- 
sentatives, the Sun, Fire — "a special messenger to the 
Sun," the Four Winds — " Bringers of rain and sun- 
shine," and Totemic Animals. "Light was the body 
or fountain of Deity," something **A11 Light, a Being 
in whom the earth and all things in it may be seen ; a 
Great Man clothed with the day, yea, with the bright- 
est day, a day of many years, yea, a day of everlasting 
continuance. From Him proceeded, in Him were, to 
Him returned all things, and the souls of all things." 
This was their faith taught by their Priests, called 
" Powow," meaning dreamer. They interpreted dreams 
and claimed to have visions which foretold future 
events. They believed in reincarnation and that the 
pure in heart might recall former lives. There were 
traces of the survival of Serpent worship among the 
people of this locality. Cast-off serpent skins were be- 
lieved to have wonderful curative properties and sup- 
plications were offered to them. In 1683 Penn said there 
were ten divisions of the Lenape, numbering about six 
thousand souls, but they soon began to decrease from 
disease, massacres and migrations. The New Jersey 
Indians rapidly died out, Peter Kalm said, — '* Smallpox 
had destroyed increditable numbers, but brandy had 
killed most of the Indians." 



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Hudson'.s Half Moon. 



ARRIVAL OF THE DUTCH. 

In the fall of 1609, Hendrik Hudson anchored the 
'* Half Moon " off Communipaw, and the simple natives' 
met him and said " Behold the Gods have come to visit 
us." Little they dreamed of the long sequence of evil 
results which would follow his coming and the intro- 
duction he gave them to ** rum," the most potent de- 
stroyer of their race. When Hendrik Hudson anchored 
off Communipaw, where lower Jersey City now stands, it 
was largely salt marsh, and the heights above were 
crowned with heavy forests. 

When he first came within Sandy Hook and gained 
his first view of Jersey shores he pronounced it a *' very 
good land to fall in with, and a pleasant land to see." 
Later the country about Communipaw he thought *' as 
pleasant a land as one need tread upon." He found an 
Indian village near the shore called Gemoenepa and 
another at Hackensack. It is said that Summit Avenue 
follows a part of the trail or path connecting the two 
villages. Hudson found the natives along the west 
shore, from Sandy Hook to Weehawken, friendly and 
generous; they brought him oysters, corn and fruits. 
Of the beauty of these people Verrezano, who visited 
New York Bay in 1524, was quite enthusiastic and de- 
clares of two chiefs that " they were more beautiful in 
form and feature than can possibly be described." He 
said that " the women greatly resemble the Antique, of 
the same form and beauty, very graceful, of fine 
countenance and pleasing appearance in manners and 

13 



14 Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 

modesty.'* The early writers all unite in describing 
these people as *' generous, giving away whatever they 
had," also as ''being sumptuously clothed in embroidered 
deer skins wrought in damask figures," and that the 
women wore more ornamental clothing than the men. 
Van Der Donck says that the " wampum with which 
a woman's skirt was embroidered was frequently worth 
from one to three hundred guilders." They wore, also, 
wampum embroidered caps and head bands, the latter 
worn across the forehead and tied behind in a "beau's 
knot." Many earrings and curiously wrought necklaces 
and bracelets, with various colored feathers in their 
hair were worn by both men and women. Wampum 
and "seawant" as it was also called, were the Indian 
terms for beads made from clam shells. By the primi- 
tive methods of the Indians the beads were difficult 
to make, being ground down on grooved stones, and 
pierced by a sharp splinter of flint fastened in one end 
of a reed, the other end being slowly revolved upon 
the right thigh while the bead to be pierced was held 
between the thumb and forefinger of the left hand. 
The beads were usually from ^ to ^ of an inch in 
length, and because of the difficulty of manufacture 
they became one of the most valuable Indian posses- 
sions and to a certain extent a standard of value. Long 
Island, called by the Indians Sewan-hackey — land of 
shells — which was inhabited by branches of the Lenni 
Lenape family was the great center of wampum manu- 
facture. There were specialists who devoted their 
time to making wampum. It was largely used by all 
of the eastern Indians, not alone for embroidery and 
ornamentation, but in record belts which were used in 



Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 15 

their treaties. The two colors, white and purple, being 
wrought into figures which were mnemonic and enabled 
the " wampum keepers ** to remember the words of 
the speech which were " talked into " the belt presented 
at the time. It was used in bunches of strings, strung 
in a certain manner, to represent the hereditary Chief- 
tain name, and from the convenience of carrying it, it 
had become nearer to being a recognized currency than 
anything else of value among the Indians. Therefore 
it was used among the white colonists all along the 
coast, not only for the Indian trade but among them- 
selves until late in the i8th century. They gave it a 
corresponding value to their own currency. At one 
time four black and eight white beads equalled a stiver, 
but in 1673 the Governor and Council of New Jersey 
decreed that henceforth three purple and six white 
wampum beads should equal one stiver or an English 
penny ; twenty stivers, a guilder. As currency it was 
usually carried in strings, one hundred and fifty in a 
string, a " fathom of wampum " is often mentioned by 
early writers, and it was also used loose. The follow- 
ing list will show the value in "seewan " of the kinds 
of money mostly received by the Deacons of Bergen : 

St. 

A piece of eight was worth f 12.00 in seewan 

A realtje, about i.io *' 

A loan dollar i i.oo " 

An £ English 40.00 *' 

so that $1 American was worth 8.00 " 

The Dutch early manufactured wampum at Hacken- 
sack, turning it upon a lathe ; this manufacture was 
continued until late in this century. 



16 Jersey City and its Historie Sites. 

During the French and English war the Delawares 
joined the French. In 1776 they joined the Federal 
cause and fought with us in the Revolutionary war. 
In their relations with Penn's colonists** they showed " 
to quote Dr. Brinton, "a sense of honor and regard for 
pledges equal at least to that of the white race." From 
1782 to 1795 there was a bitter war between the white 
people and the Lenape owing to the desire of the 
whites to possess the Indian lands, which resulted in 
three cruel massacres of Christian Indians, and of the 
removal of the Lenape, first to Ohio, next to Kansas, 
and last to the Indian Territory. *' In this long con- 
test," as Dr. Brinton says, **the history of the relations 
of the white race with the Lenape is not one calcu- 
lated to reflect glory upon the superior civilization and 
Christianity of the white race." In the war of 1863-65, 
one-half of the adult population of the Lenape 
officered by their own men were in the volunteer ser- 
vice of the United States. " No State in the Union 
furnished so many men for our armies from the same 
ratio of population as did the Lenape nation." The 
old men, women and children worked the farms and 
while the men were away fighting for the Union their 
white neighbors stole from them $20,000 worth of 
stock. 

Of our Indian predecessors in this region the only 
trace remaining is in a few corrupted names of local- 
ities : 

Hackensack, from Ackensack— low land. 
Secaucus, from Siskakes or Sikakes— the place 
where the snake hides. The Indian name for Snake 



Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 17 

Hill, now transferred to the upland between Pin- 
horne Creek and Hackensack river. 

Weehawken, from Awiehaken— at the end of (the 
Palisades.) 

HOBOKEN, FROM HOPOGHAN Hackingh— the land of 
the tobacco pipe. At this point they procured the 
stone from which they carved their pipes. It was a 
piece of upland called by the Indians, an island with 
salt marsh lying between it and the Hill. 

Harsimus, from Ahasimus, the meaning is now lost ; 
it was another bit of upland lying south of Hopoghan. 

COMMUNIPAW, FROM Gemoenepa, the meaning is not 
known. 

NaveSINK — a good fishing place. 



PAVONIA. 

On July I2th, 1630, Mr. Michael Pauw, Burgomaster 
of Amsterdam and Lord of Achtienhover, near Utrecht, 
obtained through the Directors and Councillors of New 
Netherlands, a deed from the Indians to the land called 
Hopoghan Hackingh, this being the first deed recorded 
in New Netherlands. On November 22nd, of the same 
year, the same parties procured from the Indians a deed 
to Mr. Pduw of Ahasimus and Aresick (burying- 
ground), the peninsula later called Paulus Hook. These 
were the first conveyance by deed of any land in East 
Jersey. To these tracts Pauw gave the name Pavonia 
from the Latinized form of his own name, Pauw in the 
Dutch and Pavo in Latin meaning Peacock. When 
the first settlement was formed or the first house built 
is unknown. In May, 1633, Michael Poulaz or Paulus- 
son, an officer in the service of the Company, was living 
at Pavonia. He probably occupied a hut on the Point 
which received from him the name of Paulus Hook. 
In the latter part of 1633, two houses thatched with 
reeds were built, one at Ahasimus, near what is now 
the corner of Fourth and Henderson streets, and the 
other at Communipaw. So far as is known these were 
the first regular buildings in this county. 

Paulusson had charge of the trade with the Indians 
and was Superintendent of Pavonia. He was succeeded 
in 1634 by Jan Evertsen Bout, who selected the house 
at Communipaw for his home, and was the first white 
resident there ; this farm which Bout leased after Pauw 

18 



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Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 19 

had sold his rights to the Company, was known as 
Bout's farm, and included all of the upland lying be- 
tween Communipaw Creek, where the Abattoir stands, 
on the south, and the meadows where the engine house 
of the Central railroad stands, or Maple street, on the 
north. Later the Governor, General Kieft, and the 
Council gave him a patent for this farm. The house 
was burned in 1643. It was in commemoration of Jan 
Evertsen Bout that the circular hill and section of 
upland at the mouth of Mill Creek was named Jan de 
Lacher's (or John the Laugher's) Hook. In 1636 Cor- 
nells Van Vorst became Superintendent of Pauw's 
property and lived in the house built by Pauw at Ahas- 
imus. For several years there was trouble between 
the Company and Pauw, which was finally settled by 
the Company paying to Pauw 26,000 florins for his in- 
terest in Pavonia. 

In February, 1643, about a thousand Indians fleeing 
from the Mohawks came to the Dutch for protection. 
They were encamped on the upland near the present 
intersection of Pine street and Johnston avenue. Here, 
on the night of February 25th, a party of Dutch soldiers, 
by order of Governor Kieft, murdered and brutally 
mutilated a large number of men, women and children. 
The sickening details of this massacre by white Chris- 
tians cannot be surpassed by the records of savage 
races. This led to serious troubles; all the Indians 
united and for a year and a half made war upon the 
Dutch. They burned the house at Ahasimus in which 
the widow and family of Van Vorst lived. A portion 
of the farm-house built on the site of this first house 
was still in existence in 1895. Between 1649 and 



20 Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 

1655, there were quite a number of patents for lands 
issued, principally to soldiers, at Communipaw, and as 
far down as the present town of Greenville, and there 
were quite a number of flourishing farms at Hoboken, 
Ahasimus, Paulus Hook and Communipaw. The land 
upon which they lived was known as Bouweries, and 
the outlying farms as plantations. At that time the 
land known as Kavans Point, below Communipaw, ex- 
tended farther into the bay. Winfield states that 
" within the present century the waters of the bay have 
encroached over 20oJeet, and that a cherry orchard once 
stood where fishermen now stake their nets." 

In 1655, an Indian girl stole some peaches from a 
farm near the present site of Trinity Church, New 
York, and was shot by the farmer. On the night of 
September 15th, 1655, five hundred Indians made a 
night attack upon New Amsterdam, being repulsed, 
they crossed the river and set fire to every house in 
Pavonia. Twenty-eight farms and outlying plantations 
with crops and buildings were all destroyed. Of the 
settlers one hundred were killed, one hundred and 
fifty were taken prisoners and three hundred were left 
homeless. For five years the settlements were practi- 
cally abandoned. According to the Indian laws the 
title to the lands was again vested in them by right of 
conquest. In 1658 the Indians made a new deed of 
thejterritory to the Dutch. The former settlers who 
were about to return to their farms asked for exemp- 
tion from taxes that they might be able to put their 
farms in order. The petition was granted on condition 
of their building a fortified village. In February, 1660, 
a decree was issued ordering all farmers to move their 



Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 21 

houses into groups, that might be protected by pali- 
sades or stockades, from six to seven feet above the 
ground. Indian stockades always were of tree trunks, 
as are those of the Hudson Bay Company to this day. 
Probably the early Dutch were also, although the later 
stockades may have been of heavy plank. 



COMMUNIPAW. 

On September 8th, 1660, Jaques Cortelyou was 
rdered to survey Gemoenepa and lay it out into vil- 
ige lots. The village site fronted on the Bay, was 
wo hundred feet deep and extended from what is now 
)ommunipaw avenue on the north to the Bay Shore 
louse on the south. The Council ordered that the vil- 
ige should be stockaded, but there seems to have been 
umerous delays, for in June, 1663, Gerrit Gerritsen, 
larman Smeeman and Dirck Claussen were appointed 
ommissioners to fortify Gemoenepa. May 9th, 1661, 
Egbert Sandersen and Jan Theunissen, inhabitants of 
lidwout and Amersfoort, L. I., petitioned for leave to 
rect a saw-mill on a stream at Gemoenepa and move 
iieir families there and for a lot of land for each. The 
squest was granted and probably they erected a mill 
elow the Point of Rocks on the stream formerly called 
tie Creek of the Woods and ''Creek of the High 
l^oodlands." In papers of 1671, the mill is mentioned 
s the " Mill of Hossemus;" probably from this mill 
le creek received its name of Mill Creek. Later 
'riors Mill was built upon this site and remained until 
amoved and the creek filled in when the cut was made 
)r the Pennsylvania railroad in 1837. In October, 
661, Sandersen asked permission to erect a saw-mill 
n Showhank Brook ; this creek had its rise in an 
ndian spring in West Hoboken; it ran south until it 
cached the point where New York avenue crosses 
alisade avenue ; thence it turned down the hill 



Jersey City and its Historie Sites. 23 

through a wild ravine and emptied into Mill Creek. 
There was a saw-mill on this stream at the foot of the 
hill, until it was destroyed by fire in 1835. 

The first legalized ferry across to Manhattan Island 
was established at the foot of Communipaw avenue 
when the village of Bergen was started in the fall of 
1660 by William Jansen. The boats were periaugers, 
the old Spanish pirouge, pointed at both ends, with 
two masts, but no bowsprit. When horses and car- 
riages were to be transported they were detached and 
lifted into the boat. The Governor General and Coun- 
cil fixed the rates. Jansen had much trouble, he 
claimed the exclusive right to transport people and 
goods to Nieu Amsterdam and objected to people 
crossing in their own boats. He complained to the 
authorities at Nieu Amsterdam and the people brought 
a counter charge against him for refusing to ferry 
people across; judgment was rendered January, 1663, 
that ** the Sheriff must assist him in getting his pay 
and that he must do his duty or be discharged." He 
and his successors ran regular boats three times a week. 
In 1669 Governor Carteret issued a license to Peter 
Hetfelsen to run a ferry from Communipaw to New 
York with a list of the rates to be charged ; all of which 
were payable in wampum. " Any person, letter, packett 
or message of public business, and the Governor and 
his family were to be carried free." Hetfelsen was suc- 
ceeded in 1672 by John Tymensen under the same 
conditions. From that date there is no mention of the 
ferry until 1783 when Aaron Longstreet and Company 
advertised that " constant attendance was given by the 
boats at the ferry stairs, near the Exchange, at 3 p. m. 



I: Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 

) bring passengers to Communipaw where the Newark 
age would be ready to convey them to Newark and 
lence by the Excellent New York and Philadelphia 
.unning Machines in one day to Philadelphia." 
The first road built in this county was from Com- 
lunipaw to Bergen in the fall of 1660. It ran along 
le present Communipaw avenue to Summit avenue, 
len northerly along Summit avenue to Academy 
:reet ; thence westerly to Bergen. It was called the 
Off-fall " road, from the stream that ran from Tuers 
ond and fell over a ledge of rock at the present inter- 
xtion of Grand street and Communipaw avenue. 
Jntil Grand street was extended across the marsh in 
848 the people from Communipaw and along to 
'Crgen Point could only reach Jersey City by way of 
lergen, and the Priors Mill road or Newark avenue ; 
k'here Monticello avenue now is was a marsh until 
omparatively recent times. On November 24th, 1790, 
^e Legislature appointed five commissioners to locate 
nd build bridges across the Hackensack and Passaic 
nd lay out a road four rods wide from the Newark 
!ourt House to Paulus Hook. They were authorized 
D raise by lottery £27,000, part of which was to aid 
1 completing the road, part to build a bridge over the 
Laritan, and part in providing suitable buildings for 
iie Legislature. 




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Bergen and Buynten Tuyn. 



BERGEN. 

|March ist, 1660, Tilman Van Vleck petitioned for 
permission to found a village near the maize land, a 
clearing and Indian corn field at and around what is now 
the junction of Montgomery street and Bergen avenue. 
He was refused and again asked, to be again refused, 
April I2th. A third application upon August 1 6th of 
the same year was successful. It was granted upon 
the following conditions : " The site should be selected 
by the Governor and Council ; it must be a place easily 
defended ; the land to be distributed by lot, and work 
on each plot begun within six weeks. Each owner of 
a lot to send one man able to bear arms. The houses 
were to be within a fortified village, and the farms 
were to be outside." It is highly probable that Gov- 
ernor Stuyvesant planned the new village, which was 
surveyed and laid out by Jaques Cortelyou, Surveyor 
of Nieu Netherland. This, the first village in New 
Jersey, was named Bergen, after a small town in Hol- 
land, the most important of the provinces constituting 
the United Netherlands. A square of eight hundred 
feet on each side was cleared and crossed with two 
streets that intersected at right angles. A plot in the 
centre of 160 by 220 feet was reserved for public use. 
On the exterior of the outer streets now known as 
Vroom, Idaho, Tuers and Newkirk, surrounding the 

entire plot, the stockade was erected, with gates at the 
cross streets, which are now known as Academy street 

and Bergen avenue. This was completed in 1661 • 

25 



26 Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 

Tradition states that on the corner of Vroom and Tuers 
streets was built a block house as a protection against 
the Indians. It was near the first church. Winfield 
thinks that the houses were of logs and probably 
thatched with cattailsj It is an interesting fact that 
the first lot taken in the new village, now known as 201 
Academy street, was bought by Cornelis Van Reypen, 
1st. The house now occupied by Mr. Cornelius Van 
Reypen, 3d, is the second upon the lot, which has al- 
ways been in the possession of and the home of the lineal 
descendants of the founder of the family in Bergen. 
It is also true of the Van Wagenens, Romeyns, and 
Van Winkels on Academy street, that they are living 
on the lands allotted to their ancestors at the founding 
of Bergen, which have never passed from the family 
possession. Representatives of the Sip and Newkirk 
families also still hold ancestral lands. In this respect 
Bergen has quite an exceptional record for an American 
town. 



BERGEN COURT. 

Here in Bergen the first local Court in New Jersey 
was organized in September, 1661, with Tielman Van 
Vieck as schout or sheriff, and Michael Jansen, Her- 
man Smeeman and Casper Stynmets, as schepens or 
magistrates, something like justices or aldermen. 
The schout was afterwards authorized " to fill and exe- 
cute the office of auctioneer." All criminal cases were 
referred to the Director General and Council of Nieu 
Netherland. Only minor offenses, such as brawls, 
slanders, scolding, threats, etc., could come before this 
Court. On July 19th, 1673, Mr. John Berry's house 
in Bergen was made " ye prison for the Province," un- 
til a house could be built for that purpose, and Adrian 
Post, the constable, was appointed keeper. Later a 
*Mock up " was built on the easterly side of the square 
near the school-house. On the westerly side were the 
stocks and the whipping post. The stocks were still 
standing in 1824, and even later, and the whipping post 
was a terror to evil doers as late. In 1662, a well was 
dug in the center of the square. Troughs were placed 
around it for the use of the cattle, and a long sweep 
used to raise the water. This well was used into the 
present century, when it was covered and during the 
war of i8i2-i4a liberty pole was erected in it. In 
1870, when the square was paved the pole was taken 
down and no trace of the well is left. 

Engelbert Steenhuysen was the first schoolmaster in 
Bergen, having been licensed October 6th, 1662. He 

27 



28 Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 

was allowed two hundred and fifty guilders in wampum 
annually and " some other stipulations beside the school 
money, as reason and equity shall demand." It seems 
that he was required "to lookout and procure a suit- 
able place in which to keep the school." According to 
the Albany records {^jide Winfield) the people of Bergen 
addressed a memorial to the Council that he might be 
obliged to fulfill his contract to act as Voorleezer and 
Schoolmaster for two years. The church records do 
not mention him as Voorleezer. In 1664 the first 
school-house was built on the lot set apart for school 
purposes on the northeast corner of the square. Mr. 
Winfield states that this school-house was of logs, but 
from the records in the Deacons Account books it evi- 
dently was not. It is not known positively whether it 
was of stone, brick, or frame, but several entries of 
** lbs. of nails," ** whitewashing " and ** nailing boards 
in the gable," are included in the account of work and 
repairs upon the building. Whatever it was, for about 
fifty years it was used, and then a new school building 
was erected on the site of the first. The records state 
that, " On Tuesday, May II, 1708, Mathews Bensum 
had made a foundation, and Mr. Adrian Vermuelen, 
Voorleezer at Bergen, laid the corner stone." 

The following is the itemized account of the ex- 
penses incurred : 

1708 To Adrian Quackinbush for 100 boards st. 

at 28 St. apiece /140 . 

" To Mathew Bensum, 10 days at io/"per 

day ; mason 100 . 

" To Martin Winne, 21 days at iq/"; mason 210. 

" ....ToRisso, the hod-carrier, 21 days at 3 

realtje per day 95.10 







Columbia Academy. 



Jersey City and its Historie Sites. 29 

1708. . . .To 6 lbs. nails at 3/ per lb 18 . 

«' . . .To the glazier, 23 feet of glass ^^^ 

- ""to Samuel Bayard, for 84 lbs. nails at 

3/perlb 252. 

.. To 5 lbs. nails at 3/ per lb ^5- 

" To lock for the door "'^^ 

Total for 1708 ^-^o"- 

i-io ..Expended over 1708 /907. 

May 3 . . To Mathew Mott for iron work S4 . 

'• ..ToHelmigh Roelofse for paving stone 

(steen blinkers) ^^ • 

" . .To Cornelis Van Vorst, 2 lb. nails at 3/ 

per lb ^• 

" . .To Hendrik Clausse Kuyper for 4 lb. nails 12. 

" ..ToGerrit Stynmetsfor 4lb. nails 12. 

Oct. 3'. .To Gerrit Roose for laying the ceiling. . . 40. 

" ..To his board 

" ..10 lbs nails ^5- 

• ' : To 10 boards at 36 stivers apiece • 18. 

'« . . For carting the boards "^ -^^ 

Total cost ./1. 193. 10 

Several citizens, evidently gratuitously, carted ma- 

terials to the site, in all sixty-three loads of stone 

twenty-one loads of clay, five loads of sand, one load 

of lime. Repairs were made in 1782. In 1790 the 

Columbia Academy was erected on the same site and 

stood until 1857. when the present school-house, Nc 

II was built. In the rear wall of this buildmg are 

many of the stones used in the old Academy and it is 

ornamented with the same weather vane that adorned 

the former building. Tradition states that this is the 

veritable weather vane that first surmounted the steep 

roof of the Octagonal Church, then was removed to the 



30 Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 

second church, from which it was placed on Columbia 
Academy when the present church was erected in 1841. 
In the early days of the little settlement, religious 
services were undoubtedly held in the school house, 
and in the absence of a minister were conducted by 
the Voorleezer or clerk. In 1662 the schout and 
schepens of the village petitioned the Council for a 
minister, stating that certain persons had pledged them- 
selves to subscribe four hundred and seventeen guilders 
in wampum annually for the support of a minister. 
But there was no local pastor of this first church in 
New Jersey until 1750. Until then the pastors from 
New York came over at stated times of the year, very 
often during week days, to administer the sacraments 
of Baptism and the Lord's Supper, admit new mem- 
bers, install the elected elders and deacons and to con- 
duct special services. Also pastors from Long Island, 
Esopus, Fishkill, Tapan, Raritan and other places 
preached occasionally at Bergen. These visiting pas- 
tors received from the Bergen congregation from 
twenty five to seventy-two guilders per service besides 
expenses and board. The accounts show that the 
New York ministers paid six guilders for ferriage and 
six guilders for a carriage from the ferry to Bergen. 
Twelve guilders for board was charged after every visit 
of a minister. From 1672 to 1680 Domine Van Nieu- 
wenhuysen preached and administered the sacraments 
at Bergen three times a year on week days, for which 
he received *' thirty bushels or fifteen bags of wheat." 




The "Little Church. 



THE FIRST CHURCH. 

In 1680 the first church building was begun in 
Bergen, the total cost so far as it is possible to get at 
the figures, was two thousand six hundred and twelve 
guilders. It was an octagonal stone building with the 
roof sloping to a point and surmounted with a vane 
bearing a rooster. The windows were placed very high. 
In the summer of 1683 the first bell was placed in the 
high pointed roof, probably a gift from some of the 
members. The bricks in the windows and arch over 
the door were brought from Holland. Over the door 
was a stone with this inscription: "Kirk Gebouwt in 
Het yaer 1680." Domine Taylor gives an interesting 
description of the interior of the "little church" as it 
is often called in the account books. " The bell-ringer 
stood in the center of the church. Pews were placed 
around the walls and occupied only by the men ; the 
women sat in chairs. The pulpit was high and readied 
by stairs ; below and in front of the pulpit was a little 
pew with a book-board in front of it for the use of the 
Voorleezer, who had a long rod with a slit in the end 
which he reached up to the minister, who inserted in 
the slit notices to be read. The collections were in 
wampum for many years, and it was one of the duties 
of the deacons to sell the wampum to the heads of 
families, who each distributed it among the members of 
his family and they deposited it in the collection bags. 
These bags were of black velvet attached to a long pole. 
At the bottom of each bag was a small bell to arouse 

31 



32 Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 

the people at collection time. The bags were hung 
on hooks in a suitable box beside the pulpit near the 
deacons' seat ; at the proper time the deacons each 
with bag in hand presented themselves before the 
pulpit, received their charge from the minister and 
then went among the congregation and made the col- 
lections. The bags were spoken of as *' the bell." 
This custom continued until 1800. 



THE FIRST PALL. 

The first pall the church was able to buy, cost, ac- 
cording to the Deacons account: 

lo el of black cloth at 24/ per el /240 

A linen cover to protect the pall _^ 

Total /^54 

It was first used at the funeral of Engelbert Steen- 
huysen, January 16th, .678. The rent of the pall was 
quite a source of income to the church. The price to 
an adult was fourteen guilders and to a child seven 
guilders, until June 14th. .715. when it was reduced to 
six guilders for an adult and three guilders for a chi d. 
On January 17th, 1715. the second pall was bought for 
one hundred and ninety-five guilders, and the old one 
probably refitted to use at the burial of children. On 
January 1st, 1798. a fine large pall was bought for ^5. 
1 1 s., 3 d. and a small one £2, 13 s.. 10 d. The cost of 
the bier used at funerals was usually seventeen or 
eighteen guilders, and one lasted five or six years. 
■' On May 26th, 1678, Bergen's first communion set 
was bought at an expense of seventy-four guilders and 
ten stivers, and consisted of the following articles: 
" Eight pounds of pewter, being three plates and a 
pitcher of 6 guilders the lb., and two pewter beakers at 
12 guilders apiece, and one el of Osnaburger linen 
At the same time 11 el linen was bought for a table 
cloth, costing 5 guilders 10 stivers per el, or 60 guilders 
10 stivers for the whole. On January 26th, 1731, the 

33 



34 Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 

pewter cups were changed for two silver ones, bought 
of Hendrikus Boele and costing five hundred and nine- 
teen guilders and ten stivers in wampum. The latter 
cups are still used at every communion service of the 
Bergen Reformed Church. A large Staten Bible was 
bought in 1620, costing sixty guilders and was prob- 
ably used until the services were conducted in English. 







The Second Church. 



THE SECOND AND THIRD CHURCHES. 

In 1773 a new church building was erected in the 
second cemetery, which had been opened in 1738, on 
the southwest corner of Vroom street and Bergen ave- 
nue. It fronted Bergen avenue, about the center of the 
east side of the lot. The stone above the door of the 
first church was placed above the door of the second 
building with a stone beneath with the inscription : 
*' Her bowt in Het yaer 1773." Both are now over the 
door on the south side of the present church building 
on Bergen and Highland avenues of which the corner 
stone was laid August 26th, 1 841. This site is part of 
the land originally reserved for the pastor's use. In 
the walls of the present church are many of the sand 
stone blocks from glacial bowlders that were formerly 
built into the walls of the earlier church buildings. 
The third church was dedicated July 14th, 1842. The 
dedication sermon was preached in Dutch and under- 
stood by many of the congregation. Mr. Versteeg, in 
his translation of the Church Records states that Dutch 
ceased to be the language of the pulpit and of the 
church records May 26th, 1793, when Mr. John Corneli- 
son was ordained and installed as pastor, although in 
some instances English and Dutch were used alternate- 
ly in the records as late as 1805. Old residents tell me 
that they have heard occasional sermons in Dutch at a 
very much later date. In ** The Annals of the Classis 
and Township of Bergen," Domine Taylor states that 

"singing in Dutch was discontinued about 1809, t)ut 

35 



36 Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 

preaching in Dutch continued for some tinae later." 
Two of the hymns sung at the dedication of the new 
church were composed by Mrs. Anna R. Taylor, wife 
of the pastor, the Rev. Benjamin C. Taylor. In the 
early days the Bergen Reformed Church required of 
the applicants for membership a very rigid examination 
before the minister and consistory in Bible history, 
evidences of the truths of Christianity, and the Doc- 
trines of the Church as set forth in the Heidelburgh 
Catechism. The young people went at least once a 
week to '' Catechism " to the pastor, the Voorleezer or 
an elder, until perfectly familiar with the Catechism. 

In the early Dutch Churches on Long Island there 
was an ofificer called Krank besoecker — Sick Visitor, 
also sometimes called Zieck-trooster — the Sick Con- 
soler, or Comforter; undoubtedly the same office ex- 
isted in the early Bergen Church, but if so whether it 
was filled by the Voorleezer or some other member of 
the congregation I cannot say. The name of " Sick 
Consoler " is very suggestive of kindly brotherhood, 
expressing much more than the modern name of the 
same office. 



THE VOORLEEZER. 

The Voorleezer was a very important official in the 
Reformed Church and combined the duties of several 
offices. 1st, as Voorleezer or clerk, upon Sundays, 
before the minister entered the pulpit, the Voorleezer 
took his place at the desk in front of the high pulpit or 
"preaching chair," as it was called, and opened the 
services by announcing and reading a verse from the 
Psalms. He then led the congregation in the singing 
of it, which gave him the title of foresinger. After the 
verse had been sung he first read the ten command- 
ments or the creed, and then a portion of the Scriptures. 
In the meantime the preacher had ascended the pulpit, 
a verse was again sung and the Voorleezer went to his 
seat in the pew set apart for the consistory. When the 
sermon, which usually lasted an hour and a half, was 
half finished the minister announced a Psalm verse, the 
foresinger returned to his desk and led the singing, 
while the deacons went around with the '* bell " to 
gather in the collections. At the close of the services 
the Voorleezer again led in singing and the minister 
dismissed the congregation with the benediction. 2d, 
during the week days, the Voorleezer taught the village 
school, and was at the same time catechiser, using in 
early days of Bergen a question book written by 
Domine Johannis Megapolensis of Nieu Amsterdam. 
If there was no minister the Voorleezer took the place 
of a local pastor in all respects except baptizing chil- 
dren and administering the Lord's Supper. NoL being 

37 



38 Jersey City ajid its Historic Sites. 

allowed to ascend the pulpit he read sermons from his 
desk. (Among items charged in the Deacons Accounts 
were several books of sermons.) On Sunday mornings 
he held a service at Bergen and on alternate Sunday 
afternoons at some farm-house in Ahasimus and Com- 
munipaw. An hour-glass stood on the reader's desk 
and when the sand had run from the upper into the 
lower hollow he was to suspend services and dismiss 
the congregation. 

He officiated as bell-ringer, kept the church records, 
took care of the Communion set, which his wife kept 
clean, the bier, and the pall, acted as bookkeeper for 
the Deacons and also served as Aanspreker or funeral 
director, in which capacity he kept the records of the 
dead. For services as Voorleezer and schoolmaster 
the salary exceeded /"600., and as bookkeeper and 
Aanspreker he charged for his services, and probably 
received extra fees for baptismal and marriage records. 
The first Voorleezer mentioned in the church records 
was Regnier Bastianse Van Giesen who served in that 
capacity from 1665 to May 12, 1707, when he died. 
He probably came from Utrecht in the Netherlands, 
lived awhile at Midwout, L. I., then came to Bergen. 
He was an educated man who wrote the language 
correctly and was evidently versed in the history of his 
country. These Voorleezers were men of great in- 
fluence in the early days of Bergen, especially before 
there was a settled pastor. The office continued until 
1789 when Mr. John CoUard received the title of Clerk 
with the salary of £2, 15s. per annum. 

After the receipts of the church began to exceed the 
expenditures the Deacons invested the surplus funds 



Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 39 

in cows which were rented out to responsible members 
of the congregation for 12 lbs. of butter per annum or 
its value in money. In 1679 butter sold at 22 stivers 
per lb. and the rent for one cow was 13 guilders, 4 
stivers. After 171 5 the Deacons gave up the "butter 
rent" business and loaned the church funds at 6% on 
the bond of the borrower and his securities, or upon 
personal property to the value of the sum loaned given 
as collateral security. In the early days for more than 
a century, accounts were reckoned in *' guilders seewan '* 
and wampum often accumulated in quite large amounts 
in both loose and braided. In 1691/4,000 in wampum 
was taken to Stephen Van Courtlandt to be exchanged 
for silver money. The Church Treasury has a package 
of $1,214 iri Continental bills and $700 in worthless 
State and communal paper of still earlier date. 



MARRIAGES— TOWN POOR. 

Until October 3, 168 1, all marriages in Bergen were 
performed in the school-house, thenceforth in the 
church, it was the custom to be married in the presence 
of the congregation either by the minister or the Voor- 
leezer, if by the latter, the record bore the clause " in 
the presence of the Court of Bergen." In the early 
days the usual fee was y"6 in wampum, paid over to the 
church funds. Often a collection was taken up among 
the wedding guests for the poor. There are several 
instances of the kind on record. There was no alms- 
house until recent years, and in the early days the 
town paid for the board of the poor, but the method of 
arranging the matter sounds very strange nowadays. 
It seems from the records that the poor dependent up- 
on the town were sold to the lowest bidder. Winfield 
quotes the following : ** At Bergen Town meeting Dec. 
15th, 1784, at a public Outcry is sold Enoch Earle to 
the lowest bidder for the sum of seven pounds, ten 
shillings, the conditions are as follows, the byer is to 
find the said Enoch Earle a Good Bed, Washing, Lodg- 
ing and Victuals, and mending his close ; the Overseers 
of the Poor are to find all the New Close and then the 
said Enoch Earle is to work for the Byer as much as 
he is able to do until the year's End." 



40 



BURIAL CUSTOMS. 

The burial customs were probably the same as those 
of their fatherland and very peculiar in some respects. 
The most important character was the Aanspreker, up- 
on whom rested the whole responsibility of the affair. 
Immediately upon a death he was notified, and at once 
repaired to the sterfhuis (house of the deceased) with 
a few sheets of mourning paper, upon which he took 
down the names of friends to be notified of the death, 
and marked those who were to be invited as bearers or 
as mourners. Until after the funeral he had full 
charge of all details. If necessary he appointed as- 
sistants, in case the deceased was very rich or very 
prominent there were often ten or even twenty Aan- 
sprekers employed to announce the death, and one, 
usually an old servant of the family, went in the middle 
of the street, walking slowly with bowed head and face 
buried in a large mourning handkerchief and led by 
two Aansprekers, one on each side, while the others 
were doing the " wete " or announcement at the houses. 
On these occasions all were dressed in low shoes, black 
stockings, black knickerbockers, a black cutaway coat 
covered by a long, flowing black mantle, with a white 
cravat or bands and a queer looking three-cornered hat 
or *' steek," from one corner of which to the right floated 
a long black crape streamer, whilst upon the left corner 
was pinned a rosette showing the sex of the deceased 
and if married or single. 

At the funeral all gathered at the sterfhuis, the 



42 Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 

closest friends a little earlier, who were served with 
beer or spirits and long clay pipes or segars ; when all 
were gathered the chief Aanspreker made a few con- 
solatory remarks or offered a prayer, then signalled the 
bearers to carry out the bier and martialed the relatives 
and guests in order, the youngest members of the 
family coming first. All the mourners and bearers, and 
sometimes the driver of the hearse, were either dressed 
as the Aansprekers or else wore rosettes pinned upon 
the sleeve or lapel of their coat. The Aanspreker wore 
white or black gloves according to the sex of the de- 
ceased. One or two Aansprekers led the procession, 
the bearers walked beside the hearse ; if there were 
other Aansprekers, they went between the hearse and 
first carriage and the procession slowly wended its way 
to the cemetery. All people meeting a funeral stood 
still with bowed head and doffed hat until at least the 
hearse had passed ; at the cemetery gate the bearers 
bore the coffin to the grave, and the Aanspreker made a 
prayer. After the coffin was lowered and covered with 
earth, all filed out in the same manner as they had 
come and returned to the sterfhuis. Here refresh- 
ments were served by the women, who as a rule did not 
go to the cemetery. 

To be buried within the church, in or before the 
baptistery, was a great honor and showed deep venera- 
tion by the congregation and was usually accorded only 
to ministers or men prominent in the church, an extra 
price being paid for the privilege. The record is effaced 
of the first burial within the Bergen Church ; but the 
second was a little daughter of Enoch Michielse Vree. 
land on August 1st, 1682; the third, on September 4th 



Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 43 

of the same year, was Peter Mercelis. On June 2ist, 
1683, was ''buried the corpse of Maekje Baltusen, 
daughter of Baltus Bartensee, the sixth in church, and 
the first with knell." The last burial in church 
mentioned in the records, was that of " Anntje Jack- 
son, aged forty-nine years, who died on Friday, January 
13th, 1738, at about 8 A. M., and was buried on Sun- 
day, January 15th, in the church in the baptistery." 
It was not compulsory that interments should be made 
in the cemetery or church and many burials were made 
upon bouwerijen or farms. It was an old Dutch custom 
lasting until quite recent times, to have burial clothes 
prepared and kept in store for each member of the 
family. 

The following account of the burial of a pensioner 
of Bergen Church is dated 1690 : 

Coffin and spirits /25 . 10 stivers 

^ keg of beer 15.16 

Flour and milk 6.05 " 

Sundries 15.05 " 

Aanspreker 19.10 *• 

Mathew Cornelinsen for carting the goods . 3.00 ** 

Total /85.06 " 



CEMETERIES. 

The first cemetery of Bergen was on the south side 
of Vroom street, just outside of the southeast corner of 
the palisade of the new town, where it is said there was 
a little fort for protection against the Indians. In this 
burial ground the first church was built, on the site now 
occupied by Dominie Cornelison's family vault, and 
fronting on Vroom street, facing Tuers avenue. After 
the cemetery had been used over seventy years, in 
1738 the second burying ground was opened on the 
southwest corner of Vroom street and Bergen avenue. 
These older cemeteries were not laid out in family lots, 
but the graves were made in any place convenient, and 
thus the last resting places of the different members of 
a family were seldom near together. 

For nearly two centuries these two burial grounds 
were the only ones in this vicinity. In the fall of 1829 
an episode occurred which led to the opening of the 
Jersey City Cemetery. One morning a passer-by saw 
the body of a drowned man washed ashore at Harsimus ; 
he drew it up on the grass, and after a little several 
others gathered there and in the discussion that fol- 
lowed it was decided to give the body suitable burial 
and mark the grave with a stone that it might be 
identified in case any friends of the dead man might 
eventually be found. The little group contributed a 
sum sufficient, as they supposed, to make the desired 
provision, and a committee was appointed to attend to 
the matter, and see that the body was properly buried 




The Old M'Cutcheon Hotel. 



Jersey City and its Historic Sites. J:5 

in the cemetery of the Bergen Church. The sexton 
charged $12 to open a grave, which seemed to the 
people of Jersey City such an enormous price that it 
aroused universal indignation, which resulted in a public 
meeting at Hugh McCutcheon's Farmer's Hotel at 42 
York street (quite a celebrated tavern of the day), at 
which it was decided to open a new cemetery and no 
longer be dependent upon that of the Bergen Church. 
Subscriptions were taken and a cemetery company 
was formed of which David C. Colden, one of the asso- 
ciates, and at that time Mayor of New York, was Presi- 
dent, Robert Gilchrist was Treasurer, and J. D. Miller 
was Secretary. The result was the purchase of five 
and a half acres on the hill-side south of the Newark 
Turnpike, and the Jersey City Cemetery was opened, 
at that time a quiet, country place, where under the 
drooping willows, many families, prominent in the early 
life of Jersey City were laid to rest far from the noise 
of the young city ; but with the passing years, the city 
has extended out to and far beyond their resting place, 
all about them are city streets and a railroad now runs 
along at the foot of the hill. 

In 1 83 1 or thereabouts, the third burial ground of 
the Bergen Church, east of Bergen avenue and south of 
Vroom street, was bought of Aaron Tuers for $500, 
and surveyed and laid out in fourteen foot lots by 
Colonel Sip. These lots were sold at $5 each, the gore 
lots being reserved for the poor. In 1849 ^^^ New 
York Bay Cemetery was opened; it is one of the largest 
Protestant cemeteries in the county, embracing about 
one hundred acres, sloping to the waters of the bay, a 
very beautiful location on Ocean and Garfield avenues. 



46 Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 

About 1857 Abraham Spier, while acting as sexton for 
the Bergen Church, laid out a burying ground south of 
and adjoining the west end of the second church ceme- 
tery, which is still known as Spier's Cemetery. Since 
then the Catholics have opened a emetery south of 
Communipaw avenue, and west of West Side avenue. 
Jersey City has other cemeteries outside of the city 
limits, of more recent organization. 




CO 

M 

CO 



PAULUS HOOK. 

Paulus Hook was a circular piece of upland lying 
east of what is now Warren street, and consisted of 
sand hills, some of considerable height. On the north 
was Harsimus Cove, First street; on the east the 
river, on the south Communipaw Cove, South street; 
and to the west, salt marsh, which was covered with 
water at high tide. It was sold by the West Indian 
Company to Abraham Isaacsen Planck, May ist, 1638, 
for the sum of four hundred and fifty guilders, calcu- 
lated at twenty stivers to the guilder. It remained in 
the Planck family until August 2d, 1699, when it was 
sold to Cornelius Van Vorst for ;f 300 " current money 
of New York." During this time it was used as farm 
land until 1794, as most of it continued to be until 

1804. 

Early in 1764 a new Post route was established be- 
tween New York and Philadelphia, and Abraham Mes- 
sier, who owned a wharf at the foot of Cortlandt street, 
New York, and Michael Cornelissen made arrange- 
ments with Cornelius Van Vorst for a landing at Paulus 
Hook (foot of Grand street.) The boats were two peri- 
augers, which made the trips across the river *' as the 
wind served." The Ferry Company was to keep in 
repair the causeway leading out to the road to Bergen. 
The new Post route to Philadelphia was by way of 
Bergen Point and Staten Island. Formerly travellers 
from New York to the south had gone by boat to 
Amboy, thence by stages to Philadelphia and other 

47 



48 Jersey City and its Histoi'ic Sites. 

points. Just when the Post route was changed I have 
been unable to ascertain, but in 171 5 commissioners 
were appointed to lay out a road across the meadows, 
intersecting the Bergen Point road, with ferries across 
the Hackensack and Passaic. The road was nearly the 
same as the one since known as the Newark plank 
road. Mr. Thomas Brown, one of the commissioners, 
owned the land from New York Bay to Newark Bay. 
He owned what is known as the Gautier house, and on 
his land on Newark Bay side built the ferry known as 
Brown's ferry. After the completion of this road and 
ferries the Post route came by the mill and church 
road to Bergen, thence by the road across the meadows. 
The stages stopped over night at Princeton. 

Van Vorst laid out a small park, semi-circular in 
shape, at what is now the foot of Grand street. Michael 
Cornelisen built a tavern just north of Grand street, 
near the water, a low frame house about forty feet in 
length, with a porch in front over which projected the 
extended Dutch roof. In 1800 this house, used as a 
tavern and ferry-house, with several spacious barns, 
stables and a store-house, were the only buildings on 
the Hoeck. In 1769 Van Vorst laid out a race course 
one mile long around the sand hills and along the edge 
of the upland ; this was in use, except during the war, 
until the founding of Jersey City in 1804. This was 
the only race course in Jersey City until the Beacon 
Race Course was established on the Hill in what was 
later Hudson City, about 1837-38, and discontinued 
about 1845. It was located southeast of where the 
reservoir now stands and was the scene of some very 
celebrated races. It was here on August i, 1839, ^^^^ 



Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 49 

Dutchman, trotting against time, made three miles in 
seven minutes, thirty-two and a half seconds. Hiram 
Woodruff- claimed that he could have done it in seven 
minutes, twenty-seven seconds, or better ; this record 
was not beaten until by Huntress at Prospect Park, 
September 21, 1872. 

The ferry was leased to several different parties. In 
1 77 1 Abraham Messier obtained a lease for three years ; 
this was renewed in 1774 and as he died soon after his 
widow remained in charge, probably during the war 
subject to military control. Soon after the war her 
name is connected with the ferry, and in 1786 she peti- 
tioned for repairs to the ferry stairs on the New York 
side. 



REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD. 

In the early spring of 1776, Lord Stirling, then in 
command of the American forces in this locality, took 
measures to put Bergen and Paulus Hoeck in condition 
of defense, and to open means of communication with 
the interior of the State. A fort was built at Bergen 
Neck, later called Fort Delancy, to prevent the Eng- 
lish from coming over from Staten Island. It was lo- 
cated on the rising ground now bounded by 44th and 
45th streets and Avenues B and C in Bayonne, one quar- 
ter of a mile below the canal. After it was given up 
by the Americans it was held by the Tories until Sep- 
tember, 1782. Lord Stirling personally examined the 
grounds and proposed to have the militia of Bergen, 
Essex, and Middlesex counties build broad, good roads 
from Paulus Hoeck to Brown's Ferry on the Hacken- 
sack, and from Wiehawken Ferry to Hackensack Ferry. 
Upon the arrival of Washington, the immediate con- 
struction of works at Paulus Hoeck was ordered as " of 
great importance." These were soon completed and 
troops from New York and Pennsylvania stationed 
there, under command of General Mercer, the veteran 
of CuUoden and De Quesne. 

On July I2th, 1776, the batteries of the new fort 
opened fire on the British men of war, the Phenix of 
forty guns and the Rose of twenty guns, as they came 
up the Bay to New York. The fire was returned with 
broadsides as they passed. That same evening Lord 
Howe sailed up the harbor to New York. Troops were 

56 



Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 51 

stationed at Paulus Hoeck and Bergen ready to rein- 
force Washington. After the battle of Long Island 
these orders were countermanded and the troops were 
stationed at Paulus Hoeck and Bergen Neck. On the 
15th of September, the British captured New York 
City and again the Paulus Hoeck troops had a little 
skirmish with the enemy. Occasionally Washington 
came over from his camp at Harlem to reconnoiter 
along the Jersey shore as fa'r as Paulus Hoeck. Re- 
cognizing that the fort could not be held, preparations 
were made for its evacuation. General Mercer removed 
all guns, stores and troops with the exception of a 
small guard under orders to leave upon the first ap- 
pearance of the enemy. On the afternoon of Septem- 
ber 23d, 1776, the English ships cannonaded the fort 
for half an hour or more, then landed a force. About 
twenty boats also came over from New York. They 
found nothing but a few guns unfit for use. General 
Mercer and his troops retired to Bergen with an out- 
post at Prior's Mill. October 5th, the American troops 
left Bergen to join Washington in his retreat to the 
Delaware. 

For a long time Paulus Hoeck was the only British 
stronghold in New Jersey. They greatly strengthened 
the defences built by the Americans and made their 
landings at this point. At high tide boats could pass 
over the marsh and even over the causeway that con- 
nected Paulus Hoeck with the main land. An elevated 
foot path or board walk had been made parallel to the 
road to enable people to pass at all stages of the tide. 
This was still in use well into this century. 

I quote Mr. Winfield's description of the fort : *' It 



52 Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 

was a very strong position with the waters of the river 
and coves on the north, east and south, and on the west 
a marsh, with a creek running near the westerly edge of 
the upland from near Montgomery street southwest- 
erly into the southerly cove near the foot of Van Vorst 
street. This creek had been connected with the Har- 
simus cove by a ditch about on the line of Warren 
street. Over this ditch on the line of Newark avenue 
was a drawbridge with a barred gate. Thirty paces in- 
side of the ditch and the creek was a row of abattis ex- 
tending into the river. The main works were in the 
line of Sussex street extending from about St. Mathews 
Church easterly to Greene street. The barracks were 
at the intersection of Essex and Warren streets. From 
the main fort a redoubt extended southerly along 
Washington street to a half moon fort on the southerly 
side of Essex street. There was one fort on the north 
west corner of Grand and Washington streets. Some 
block-houses had been constructed north of the main 
works, and one of them north of the road leading to the 
ferry. The burying ground was on the west of Wash- 
ington street, extending from Sussex to a short dis- 
tance south of Morris street." 



BATTLE OF PAULUS HOOK. 

At four o'clock on the afternoon of August i8th, 
1779, Major Henry Lee, with four hundred infantry 
and a troop of dismounted dragoons started from New 
Bridge (Hackensack), on a march of fourteen miles 
through the woods to make an attack upon the fort at 
Paulus Hoeck. He detached patrols of horse to watch 
the communication with the North River and stationed 
parties of infantry at different roads leading to Paulus 
Hoeck. At Union Hill he filed into the woods where 
by the guide's timidity, or treachery, the march was 
prolonged to three hours before gaining the right road. 
The same night Colonel Van Boskirkleft Paulus Hoeck 
with a force of one hundred and thirty men to make 
a raid upon the English neighborhood. Fortunately 
the two parties did not meet. Major Lee and his men 
reached Prior's Mill at 3 A. M., August 19th; at 3:30 
they reached the ditch at the intersection of Newark 
avenue and Warren street. The tide was rising but 
Lieut. Rudolph found the canal fordable, and led by 
Lieuts. McCallister and Rudolph the troops pushed 
through and soon gained possession of the outer fort. 
Major Sutherland, who was in command of the fort, re- 
tired into a small redoubt with a few officers and forty 
Hessians. It was nearly daylight and Major Lee had 
no time to dislodge them. He had intended to burn 
the barracks, but on finding sick soldiers, women and 
children in them he refrained. He retreated, carrying 
with him one hundred and fifty-nine prisoners, officers 

53 



54 Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 

and men ; he lost two men killed, and had three men 
wounded. 

Captain Forsyth was ordered to Prior's Mill to collect 
such men as were most fit for action and take a position 
on Bergen Heights to cover the retreat. This position 
was in the woods near Bergen and Sip avenues, said to 
be about the site now occupied by Dr. Hornblower's 
house, 631 Bergen avenue. Dr. Hornblower's grand- 
mother was then a little girl, Anna Merselis, and that 
morning in looking for a cow, she came upon Lee's 
soldiers, who detained her while they waited, to prevent 
her carrying any report of their presence to possible 
enemies. The troops remained there until messengers 
had been sent to ascertain if the boats that Major Lee 
had arranged to have in waiting for him at Dow's 
Ferry were there. He had intended to cross the Hack- 
ensack and by the Belleville Turnpike reach the high 
ground east of the Passaic, and thus return to New 
Bridge ; but the boats had been removed to Newark, 
and Major Lee with ruined ammunition and tired men, 
encumbered with prisoners, was obliged to return by a 
route liable to be interrupted by troops from New 
York. With undaunted courage and wise precautions 
the brave troops started on the return march of four- 
teen miles to New Bridge; at " Weehock " Captain 
Catlett came up with fifty men and good ammunition. 
At the Fort Lee road Col. Ball met him with two 
hundred fresh men, and Major Lee and his men safely 
reached New Bridge about one o'clock in the afternoon. 
The English were greatly annoyed and the Americans 
exceedingly jubilant over the affair. 

In a letter to Congress General Washington said : 



I' 



Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 



55 



"The Major displayed a remarkable degree of pru- 
dence, address and bravery upon this occasion, which 
does the highest honor to himself and to all the officers 
and men under his command. The situation of the 
fort rendered the attempt critical and the success 
brilliant." On the 24th of September, Congress passed 
the following resolutions respecting the affair : 

^'Resolved, That the thanks of Congress be given to 
His Excellency General Washington for ordermg with 
so much wisdom, the late attack on the enemy's fort 
and work at Povvles Hook. 

" Resolved, That the thanks of Congress be given to 
Major General Lord Stirling for the judicious measures 
taken by him to forward the enterprise and to secure 
the retreat of the party. 

''Resolved, That the thanks of Congress be given to 
Major Lee for the remarkable prudence, address and 
bravery displayed by him on the occasion ; and that 
they approve the humanity shown in circumstances 
prompting to severity as honorable to the arms of the 
United States, and correspondent to the noble prin- 
ciples on which they were assumed. 

" Resolved. That Congress entertain a high sense of 
the discipline, fortitude, and spirit manifested by the 
officers ar.d soldiers under the command of Major Lee 
in the march, action and retreat, and while with singu- 
lar satisfaction they acknowledge the merit of these 
gallant men, they feel an additional pleasure of con- 
sidering them a part of an army in which very many 
brave officers and soldiers have proved, by their cheer- 
ful performance of every duty under every difficulty, 
that they ardently wish to give the truly glorious ex- 
amples they now receive. 

''Resolved, That Congress justly appreciates the 
military caution so happily combined with darmg ac- 



56 Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 

tivity by Lieuts. McCallister and Rudolph in leading 
on the forlorn hope. 

*' Resolved, That a medal of gold emblematical of 
this affair be struck, under the direction of the Board 
of Treasury, and presented to Major Lee. 

''Resolved, That the brevet and the pay and sub- 
sistence of Captain be given to Lieuts. McCallister and 
Rudolph respectively." 

Congress also placed in the hands of Major Lee 
$15,000 to be distributed among the soldiers engaged 
in the attack. On one side of the medal awarded to 
Major Lee is a bust of the hero, with the words ** Hen- 
rico Lee, Legionis Equit Praefecto, Comitia Americana. 
The American Congress to Henry Lee, Colonel of 
Cavalry." On the reverse, '* Non Obstantib fluminibus 
vallis astutia et virtute bellica parva manu hostes vicit 
victosq armis humanitate devinxit. In mem. pugn. ad 
Paulus Hook, die XIX August, 1779." "Notwith- 
standing rivers and entrenchments, he with a small 
band conquered the foe by warlike skill and prowess 
and firmly bound by his humanity those who had been 
conquered by his arms. In memory of the conflict at 
Paulus Hook, nineteenth of August, 1779." J 





The Lee Medal. 





-#• 






^L 


.^i^^ . 







'The King of the Woods." 



LAFAYETTE IN BERGEN. 

On August 24th, 1779, General Lafayette and his 
troops marched on a foraging expedition from near 
Fort Lee to Bergen. On the morning of the 25th they 
arrived at the brow of the Hill and encamped about 
the large, old tulip tree, known as '* oude Boom " to the 
early settlers and as the ** King of the Woods " to 
those of later date. The locality is now known as 
Waldo avenue, between Henry street and Magnolia 
avenue. The tree was cut down December 20th, 1871. 
Lafayette's headquarters were at the Van Wagenen 
place on the northwest corner of Academy street and 
Bergen square. Mr. Taylor states, " in the orchard on 
the old parsonage site on northwest side of Square," 
where he entertained at dinner General Washington 
who came over from Hackensack. The dinner was 
cooked in the Van Wagenen weave-house and eaten 
under an apple tree. This tree was blown down in a 
gale on September 3d, 182 1, and from a portion of it 
was made a very handsome cane, gold mounted and 
with this inscription, ** Shaded the hero and his friend 
Washington in 1779; presented by the Corporation of 
Bergen in 1824." When Lafayette visited America in 
1824, when he was on his way from Jersey City to 
Newark, there was a gathering of all the people of this 
vicinity to meet him at Riker's Tavern, Five Corners, 
which is still standing on the southwest corner of 
Newark and Summit avenues. Upon this occasion 

57 



68 Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 

Domine Cornelison presented him with the cane, mak- 
ing a very appropriate address. 

The farmers living near Guttenburgh during the 
Revolutionary War were ostensibly neutral, as the 
roads were often traversed by the soldiers of both par- 
ties. Stories are told of the bare and bleeding feet of 
the Americans cut by the sharp rocks, and many tra- 
ditions of interest are connected with different places 
in that locality ; notably with the old homestead known 
as the " Lake property." The story of one tragedy 
with a touch of the absurd, should be preserved. One 
bitter cold night in the winter of 1777-78, after all of 
the family in the old stone farm-house on the Lake 
property, except the good haus-frau, had retired to 
their beds, while she was still busy in the kitchen ar- 
ranging her earthenware jars of milk before the wide 
fire-place preparatory to the morrow's churning, she was 
startled by the entrance of a party of English scouts 
who had come over from New York and attracted by 
the firelight shining through the wide kitchen window, 
had stopped to warm and rest awhile, leaving their 
horses tied to the trees. While they were enjoying the 
spirits in their flasks and the comfort of the fire, a party 
of American scouts that had come down the Hudson 
to reconnoiter, came along and seeing the tethered 
horses outside and the group of redcoats within, 
opened fire upon them through the window, killing 
them all. In the melee the milk jars were broken and 
the milk mingled with the blood of the dead scouts 
covering the floor. The old lady was terribly fright- 
ened, but her new guests came in and carried out the 
dead, and as the ground was frozen hard, buried them 



Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 69 

under the deep snow at some distance from the house ; 
then they brought water from the well and asking for 
brooms scrubbed up the floor, and brought in fresh 
piles of wood and building up a great fire made them- 
selves comfortable until daylight. Before leaving they 
made up a little fund to compensate their hostess for 
her broken jars and wasted milk. 



SERGEANT CHAMPE. 

After Andre's execution General Washington formed 
a plan to seize Arnold and bring him to the Jersey 
shore, first to punish him, second to exonerate from 
suspicions of treachery another of his Generals, St. 
Clair. Major Lee persuaded Sergeant Major John 
Champe of Loudon, Virginia, to attempt to carry out 
the plan. He was to desert to the British, join Ar- 
nold's American Legion and if possible bring Arnold 
within reach of American troops. About ii o'clock 
on the night of October 20th, 1780, he started upon his 
perilous adventure ; within half an hour his absence was 
discovered and reported to Major Lee who delayed the 
pursuit as long as he possibly could, but a little after 
twelve, troops started after the supposed deserter. 
At Union Hill Champe was only a short half mile 
ahead. Knowing that his flight to Paulus Hook would 
be intercepted, he started for the British patrol boats 
lying in Newark Bay near Brown's Ferry (near the 
Newark plank road). His pursuers were within two or 
three hundred yards of him, when he dismounted and 
running across the meadows plunged into the Bay and 
swam for the boats, calling for help. The British sent 
a boat for him and fired upon his pursuers. He soon 
established the innocence of the other Generals and 
sent word to Lee to meet him at Hoboken upon a cer- 
tain night when he would deliver Arnold. But his plan 
miscarried owing to the fact that Arnold moved his 
headquarters to another part of the city. For a long 
time Champe endured many hardships, and was unable 
to escape and return to his comrades until serving 
under Lord Cornwallis at Petersburgh, Virginia. 

60 




The Old Tuers Homestead. 



BERGEN PATRIOTS. 

The English evacuated Paulus Hook November 22, 
1783. It is said that during the Revolution there were 
only fourteen families in Bergen whose sympathies 
were with the Colonies. Among these were some 
very devoted patriots whose memory should be cher- 
ished. Prominent among them are the names of Mrs. 
Jane Van Reypen Tuers and her brother Daniel Van 
Reypen. Mrs. Tuers lived at the old Tuers house, the 
site of which is now occupied by the Armory on the 
corner of Mercer street and Bergen avenue. During 
the time the British occupied New York the American 
prisoners in their hands suffered for food and Mrs. 
Tuers carried to them sacks of provisions every week. 
From the weight of the heavy burthens she injured her 
shoulder and arm so seriously that she was crippled for 
the remainder of her life. 

Upon these occasions she used to go to " Black Sam's" 
Tavern, which was a rendezvous for the English of- 
ficers. One day, under pledges to not reveal the source 
of her information, Black Sam told her that he had 
overheard British officers talking of a conspiracy in the 
American Camp. She told her brother, Daniel Van 
Reypen, who went to Hackensack ostensibly to visit 
relatives ; he saw General Wayne, and saying that he 
could trust him, advised him to mark every tent in the 
camp as there was a conspiracy. General Wayne sent 
the warning to Washington; thus was Arnold's treason 
learned three days before the capture of Andre. Gen- 



62 Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 

eral Washington offered Mr. Van Reypen a reward in 
money to which he replied, " No, I do not serve my 
country for money ; but in case I am taken prisoner 
by the English I would like to be released," upon which 
Washington said '* that the best hostages should be 
given for him." Mr. Van Reypen built and lived in 
the house still standing on Fairmount avenue, No. 320* 
a little west from Bergen avenue. Mrs. Tuers died in 
1834, and her remains lie in an unmarked grave in lot 136 
of the cemetery on Bergen avenue, east of the church. 

General Bayard, who owned an estate at Hoboken 
called Castile — since known as Castle Point — was at 
one time friendly to the Americans, but later he became 
a very pronounced Tory and very vindictive towards 
all who sympathized with them. At one time Mr. 
Daniel Van Reypen was arrested and taken before 
him, when General Bayard greeted him with the ques- 
tion, " Old man, where is your rebel coat ? " Mr. Van 
Reypen responded, '* The coat does not make the man, 
it is the heart." Later, Mr. Van Reypen met General 
Bayard in New York, near the river, when General 
Bayard threatened to strike him with his riding whip, 
to which Mr. Van Reypen coolly replied that if he did, 
he would throw him off the dock, and the angry 
General passed on. 

Another sister of Mr. Van Reypen's had an amusing 
encounter with a loyalist friend, a Mrs. Outhout, who 
was constantly assuring her that the rebels would be 
defeated and that ** there would be a devil of a stroke 
very soon." When Cornwallis surrendered, Mrs. Van 
Horn quietly reminded her of her prophesies and asked 
" if this was the stroke ? " 



Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 63 

Catherine Van Winkle and her younger sister Maria 
were very heroic girls whose names should not be for- 
gotten. They often carried messages from Lafayette to 
Washington at Belleville ; on one occasion they walked 
there in the night to warn Washington of a plot of the 
English to surround and capture him. To their quick 
wit an American soldier owned his life. He was at 
their father's house, an old stone house a little south of 
Colonel Spier's burying ground, near where Highland 
and Idaho avenues now cross, when a party of English 
soldiers surrounded the house in search of him. The 
girls hid him between the feather and straw beds of 
their bed, and then retired, and when the English en- 
tered the room to search for him were seemingly sound 
asleep. The English prodded with their bayonets 
under the bed and searched every closet and corner 
but failed to find him. Catherine married a Mr. Shep- 
pard and was a well-known and beloved character on 
the Hill until comparatively recent times ; born in 
June, 1763, she lived to be one hundred years and six 
months old, and was bright, cheerful and active to the 
last. Her remains lie in an unmarked grave in the 
cemetery opposite the Dutch Reformed Church, 
Washington appreciated the loyalty of the family and 
was a guest of their father's, sometimes dining there. 
One branch of the Van Winkle family still have in their 
possession a handkerchief left by Washington upon an 
occasion of his staying over night at the Stuyvesant 
Tavern. 



EARLY CUSTOMS. 

It is to be regretted that so much has been forgotten 
of the early customs and habits of former generations 
of this locality. For a long time the city grew slowly ; 
in comparatively recent times the farms have been 
changed into city lots and the occupations and amuse- 
ments have taken different forms. Even traditions of 
early customs does not reach much farther back than 
the beginning of the present century ; but, owing to 
the Dutch tenacity of clinging to inherited customs, it 
is probable that the manners of eighty and a hundred 
years ago were not so very different from those of their 
ancestors, especially as they retained the quiet, simple 
life of a farming community. The great holiday of 
the year, looked forward to alike by the old people, 
young men and maidens and the children, was New 
Year's Day. Christmas was observed by a service at 
the church, and not by gifts and friendly reunions ; all 
the jollity was reserved for New Year's day. Then the 
mother or the grandmother brought out the bag of 
Spanish silver dollars, and each child was allowed to 
take out one as a New Year's gift. In every house was 
a store of " oley koecks " and New Year's cakes, a sort 
of *' jumble " or cookey, in shape either oblong or 
round, stamped with a design of a vine, or bird, or 
flower, from a wooden stamp ; these were kept ready 
to give to the bands of visiting children who went from 
house to house wishing the inmates a " Happy New 
Year." The young people went for long sleighrides to 

64 



Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 65 

neighboring towns, or friendly calls ; the older people 
made visits in the evening, dropping in upon their 
friends without an invitation and staying to supper. 
After the New Year's festivities, the " quilting parties" 
were the favorite social entertainment, when the young 
women spent the afternoon in quilting the elaborate 
patch work or other quilts ; some were made of home- 
spun woolen cloth and instead of cotton, wool was used 
as a filling, and the quilting was in most elaborate de- 
signs of vines and flowers. The young men came to 
supper and the evening was spent in games and danc- 
ing. Then came the " Husking bees " in the fall, 
varied by occasional "Apple-paring bees," but the 
latter were more unusual. The women made occasional 
afternoon visits, guests coming soon after the mid-day 
dinner and staying to tea. 

The great day among the men came in June at the 
general muster of the militia, or "General Training 
Day." This dated from the early days of Bergen, the 
first militia having been organized June 30th, 1663. 
All men between eighteen and forty-five (or fifty) years 
of age were required to meet upon that day each year 
to go through military evolutions. All who absented 
themselves without a valid excuse were subject to a 
fine. There was a company at Hackensack, one at 
New Durham, one at Bergen and another at Bergen 
Point. The several companies of the county formed a 
brigade and m,et at different places on successive years, 
more frequently at New Durham or Bergen. Colonel 
Sip was a colonel of militia and John I. Van Horn 
a captain. Both served in the war of 1812-14. Cap- 
tain Van Horn was in charge of a rough block fort at 



66 Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 

Sandy Hook. He used to say that there was nothing 
to do only when an American ship was being chased by 
the enemy, their guns afforded it protection and enabled 
it to get safely into port. The war of i8 12-14 being 
largely a naval war, the militia of this locality did not 
take a very active part in it. But during the war, the 
fort at Paulus Hook was held by Drum Major John G. 
Sexton of the militia and six men under his command. 
One great enjoyment of "Training Day" with the 
Bergen Company was the supper they always had at 
the tavern on Bergen avenue. This supper was a great 
event, looked forward to through many months. While 
all meals at this tavern were held in high esteem, upon 
this one day there was an unusually fine menu. The 
praises of those gastronomic successes are still sung by 
such of the fortunate participants as are still with us. 

One peculiar custom among the Bergen Dutch, 
handed down from generations even to recent times, 
has been that the masculine head of the family always 
cut the smoked beef (a never failing dish) and the 
bread. Formerly the bread was baked in large loaves 
in yellow earthen dishes in a brick oven, and put upon 
the table uncut, then as each person wished a slice the 
head of the house, holding the bread against his breast, 
cut off a portion. Generally they lived very plainly; 
saeurkraut, which was such a favorite dish among the 
Mohawk Valley and Albany Dutch, seems to have been 
almost unknown here. Pound cake was a favorite re- 
cipe and in the early part of this century the Com- 
munipaw housewives carried their butter and eggs to 
certain bakers in Greenwich street. New York, to have 
their pound cake baked for them. Their recipe for 



Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 67 

crullers was very similar with the addition of a little 
more flour. In all well regulated houses *' Oley 
Koecks " were indispensable ; there was quite a differ- 
ence in the way of making them, some recipes are 
plain doughnuts of raised bread dough, sweetened and 
spiced only. The following is a more elaborate recipe 
of 1750: 

'* One pint of milk, one cup fresh yeast, flour to 
make a stiff batter, mix at night ; in the morning add 
five eggs, two cups of sugar, one cup of shortening, 
(half butter and half lard), one teaspoonful soda, flour 
to make like bread dough, let stand until light, which 
will be two or three hours; have ready chopped apples 
sweetened and flavored with nutmeg and raisins ; roll 
out and cut in pieces -about four inches square, place a 
tablespoonful of apple on each square, double over and 
pinch together, drop in hot lard to fry." 

In the old recipes pearlash is used, in these the modern 
term soda and baking powder have been substituted. 
The early settlers made their own pearlash by burning 
either corn cobs or a bit of wood, often birch or maple, 
on the hearth, and from the clean ashes put in water 
obtained the carbonate of potash desired. 

The following recipes are also handed down from the 
early Dutch housewives : 

" Jumbles, (Koeckjes): One pound of flour, one half 
pound of sugar, less than half pound of butter, three 
eggs, four tablespoons sweet milk, one teaspoon 
saleratus." 

'' Dried Biscuits, (Old Dutch) : Take one and a half 
pints warm milk, one cake compressed yeast, one tea- 
spoonful salt and flour enough to make a sponge. 



68 Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 

When light, which will probably be in half an hour, 
add one-fourth pound of butter, and knead with flour 
to about the consistency of bread. Let rise again and 
then mould each biscuit in two parts, putting one on 
the top of another, that they may be broken open more 
easily. Put in pans and let rise before baking. When 
baked break open and put in the warming oven until 
thoroughly dried." 

"Soft Waives, (Old Dutch): One quart of milk, 
make a batter with flour, raise with yeast, when light 
add four eggs, one-quarter pound of melted butter and 
a little salt. Beat all together, let rise again, and add 
half a cup of sugar. Eat with sauce." 

Old waffle irons with initials of early owners and the 
date are still in existence ; one has A. D. 1709. 

** Fried Spack and Opples: Take slices of pickled 
pork, fry them well, then take slices of apple and fry 
in the hot fat; if the apples are sour, put a little mo- 
lasses or brown sugar over them, when the apples are 
brown, turn over and brown on the other side; serve 
with the slices of pork laid around the edge of dish. 
If the apples are sweet, do not use sweetening." 

"Mince Pie, (Old Dutch): Seven bowls chopped 
tart apples, three bowls chopped meat, seven pounds 
of sugar, one gallon cider (not sweet), seven nutmegs, 
four tablespoonsful cinnamon, two tablespoonsful 
cloves, two pounds of raisins, one pound of currants, 
one pound of citron, salt and pepper." 

"Buling Pudding, (Old Dutch): Four quarts of 
water, let it come to a boil. Add one pint of rice, two 
cups of sugar, one-fourth pound of cinnamon, one table- 
spoonful of salt, and buckwheat enough to make a very 



Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 69 

stiff batter. Boil half an hour. Put in pie dishes and 
when cold cut in slices and fry." 

** Buckwheat Pudding, (Old Dutch): Have one quart 
of water boiling. Mix two cups of buckwheat meal to 
a smooth batter with cold water ; stir this mixture into 
the boiling water ; add to this one slice of raw, fat salt 
pork chopped fine, one cupful of sugar, one teaspoonful 
each of ground cloves, allspice, cinnamon and salt. 
Simmer one hour, stirring frequently. Pour into a 
deep dish to cool. When cool this will leave the dish 
easily if sufficiently cooked. Slice, fry brown and 
serve with powdered sugar." 

These two puddings recipes are still used in Holland. 

Cookstoves were not introduced until about 1825 or 
later, the cooking being done over an open fire. In 
the wide fireplace was fastened at one side the " crane," 
a swinging iron bar, on which were hung iron pot 
hooks, or trammels, upon these were swung the pots 
and kettles for cooking. These were cleaned from soot 
and smoke by rubbing them in the sand. The fire was 
built with a large log for back log, resting on andirons, 
and in front and above it were piled smaller sticks and 
chips of wood. They used kettles of different sizes 
made with three iron feet, long handled frying pans ; 
bake kettles — broad, shallow kettles with iron covers 
upon which hot coals were piled ; skillets, a small iron 
pot, holding from one to two quarts, with short handles 
and three iron feet, to set on a bed of coals In front of 
the fire to cook little messes. Meats were roasted 
suspended by a string before the fire and twirled from 
time to time, or in tin Dutch ovens, which were open 
towards the fire. Bread, cake, etc., were baked in the 



70 Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 

brick oven. The ordinary bread used was of rye and 
Indian meal. The brick ovens were prepared for bak- 
ing by building a hot fire in them and when the wood 
was burned to coals it was shovelled out and the bread, 
etc., put in and the oven securely closed. A long 
handled shovel called a " peel " or a ** slice " was used 
to put the things in to bake. Beside the fire-place 
stood shovel and tongs, and usually there hung there a 
bellows for blowing up the fire when low, and a turkey's 
wing to brush up the hearth. The first stoves used 
were the Franklin and many of those used in Bergen 
were cast by Martin Ryerson at Pompton, N. J. Coal 
was not used for fuel until about 1826, and at first in 
grates only. 

The killing of their own beeves and pork was prac- 
ticed by the farmers of Bergen and Communipaw as 
late or later than 1840. They lived almost entirely 
upon the produce of their farms. In November they 
killed and laid up their year's supply of meat. The 
skins of the beeves were sent to the tanner who cured 
them for the half ; from their share the boots and shoes 
for the family were made by a shoemaker who came to 
the house to work. This custom was kept up until 
1825. 

In the early days there were large tracts of white 
cedar along the western slope of Bergen Hill, on the 
old swamp road to Belleville which led from the Newark 
Turnpike and near Sikakes. From this cedar the 
farmers had ca>ks made in which to keep their salted 
meats. Fresh meats, sausages, in immense quantities, 
head-cheese, and "roellachoje" (a pickled preparation of 
beef tongue and tripe) were kept in a cool garret. The 



Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 71 

first butcher in Jersey City was John W. Holmes, who 
started about 1814; he was succeeded in 18 16 by Henry 
Drayton, who came to Jersey City from Somersetshire, 
England, but city ways and conveniences did not reach 
Bergen and Communipaw for many years later. It is 
said that the first huckster known in Jersey City was 
a character called *• High, Low, Jack," who, in the 
'6o's, began to go about from house to house selling 
clams and huckleberries. His cries were a constant 
amusement to the children, who used to follow him in 
crowds. 

During the first quarter of this century, wool from 
their sheep was spun and wove at home ; the spinning 
was done by the women of the family, sometimes as- 
sisted by young women who " went out spinning." 
Men went about to do the weaving. On some places 
there were weave houses, in others there was a weave 
room in the cellar. When the cloth was woven it was 
usually dyed blue ; a blue dye tub being kept to dye 
the stocking yarn and cloth. Later the cloth was sent 
to the fullers, then tailoresses came to the house and 
made it up into clothing for both men and women. 

The women went to New York to market, carrying 
butter and eggs to sell, and there are traditions in some 
families of their avoiding the *' Mill and Church road " 
on their return, and climbing over the rocks, in the 
long walk from the ferry, fearing that they might be 
robbed of their store of silver dollars, carried in the 
large pocket, fastened about the waist and worn under 
the dress skirt. A story is told of a very philosophic 
old lady who sold buttermilk which her customers ac- 
cused her of diluting with water. The proceeds she 



72 Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 

invested in a silver tankard. Upon her return from New 
York in a row-boat across the river, it was so rough 
that in the rocking of the boat the parcel with the 
tankard fell overboard and was lost. " Well," ex. 
claimed the old lady, " let it go, it came from the water 
and has gone back to the water." 

A great event to the children was the yearly candle- 
making in many families ; they were all allowed to make 
a few little candles for themselves when they were so 
fortunate as to be the happy possessors of toy candle- 
sticks. Candle-making was quite a long and wearisome 
process. First the proper length of candle wicking 
was doubled over long slender rods, and the ends 
twisted together to form the wick of the prospective 
candle. The number of these upon a rod depended 
upon the size of the candle to be made, whether six or 
eight to the pound. These were prepared the day be- 
fore the dipping was done. In the early morning long 
pieces of scantling were laid upon two saw-horses, and 
across these scantlings were laid the rods with the 
wicks hanging down. At one side was placed a large 
''cauldron kettle" filled with hot melted tallow into 
which the operator dipped the rods of wicks. The 
kettle of hot tallow was kept replenished and the dip- 
ping process was repeated again and again until the 
candles were of the required size. After being properly 
cooled they were slipped from the rods, the wicks cut 
off and they were carefully packed away in boxes. 
Later candle moulds were invented, which made it very 
much easier than the old method. 

In dress the women did not wear the ornamental 
caps, such as were worn in Holland, but very plain 



Jersey City and its Historie Sites. 73 

ones; neither did they wear as many petticoats as their 
sisters across the sea, three or four usually being the 
limit. It was not the custom here in Bergen, to set 
apart a dower chest for each daughter, to which yearly 
additions were made of household and personal linen, 
and a silver spoon, as was practiced by some of the 
Holland families in Albany and in some parts of Penn- 
sylvania. Upon marriage each daughter was given a 
little store of linen ; upon the death of her father, per- 
haps a little money ; but, as a delightful old lady told 
me, " the land and the property mostly went to the 
sons, the girls were expected to marry money." Under 
the old Dutch law both sons and daughters became of 
legal age at twenty-five. The girls were carefully 
trained in household arts and in the use of the needle. 
Little girls under nine years of age wrought elaborate 
samplers. It was a common practice to make the pillow 
cases with an insertion of drawn work in linen at the 
closed end of the case, under which showed the bit of 
red cloth sewed on the end of the pillow ; the open end 
of the pillow case was left untrimmed. 

Children were taught to be very courteous to their 
elders ; upon meeting any one in the street little girls 
curtesied and the boys made a bow. The Bergen 
Dutch women and their daughters were very practical 
thrifty women, most excellent housewives and devoted 
mothers. Both men and women devoted themselves in 
the most matter of fact way to the duties of life, never 
allowing anything less serious than a funeral to disturb 
to any great extent the routine of daily life. I have 
heard of a bride brought home upon her wedding day to 
her father-in-law's house, who, upon the first evening 



74 Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 

started out to milk the cows, saying she ** preferred to 
take up the duties of her new position at once." I have 
heard also of a bridegroom, a merchant who attended 
to his usual duties upon the morning of his wedding 
day, and after the ceremony returned again to his store. 

Slavery existed until 1820, when all slaves were made 
free at twenty-five years of age. The old slaves were 
cared for during the remainder of their lives. It was 
for the colored people that the first Sunday School in 
Bergen was opened in 1828, in the garret of the school- 
house. Many of the slaves ran away to New York 
and Connecticut. Those who went to New York lived 
in cellars or wherever they could find shelter. When 
any of them died their friends always brought them 
back to Communipaw to bury them, and their funerals 
were held at the old Garrabrant stone house, which 
used to stand on what is now Philip street. One pe- 
culiar feature was that on every coffin was placed a 
bunch of freshly plucked spearmint. They were 
buried on the Garrabrant farm in what is now Lafayette, 
and also on the Van Reypen place. 

A hundred years ago, lotteries were held in great 
esteem, as a popular means of raising funds to build 
churches, colleges, schools, roads, prisons, and chari- 
table institutions. The first ever drawn in this locality 
was at Paulus Hook in 1773, and in 1824 a " Queen's 
College Literature Lottery " was advertised in Jersey 
City. Some of Jersey City's most reputable people 
were engaged in lotteries and accumulated fortunes in 
the business. Later the Legislature passed laws mak- 
ing it illegal and the parties then conducting a lottery 
in Jersey City removed their business to Wilmington, 
Delaware, where it was carried on for many years. 




Am^ 




JERSEY CITY. 

Paulus Hook with its ferry rights passed from the 
possession of the Van Vorst family to Anthony Dey of 
New York, on March 26th, 1804. The consideration 
was an annuity of $6,000 in Spanish milled dollars. 
Dey conveyed it to Abraham Varick, who on the 20th 
of the same month conveyed it to Richard Varick, 
Jacob Radcliff, and Anthony Dey. These men were 
eminent and successful lawers in New York and became 
the founders of Jersey City. They divided their pur- 
chase into one thousand shares, associating others with 
themselves, A map of the property was issued and a 
sale of lots was advertised for May 1 5th, then adjourned 
to June I2th, 13th and 14th. Upon the loth of No- 
vember, 1804, the Legislature passed an act incorporat- 
ing the " Associates of the Jersey Company." This 
bill was drawn up by Alexander Hamilton. To this 
corporate body Radcliff and Dey conveyed Paulus 
Hook, February ist, 1805. For fifteen years the As- 
sociates possessed the government and shaped the 
destinies of the town and their influence lasted long 
after the original members of the company were all 
dead. The corporation still exists and owns much 
valuable property. 

MUNICIPAL CHANGES. 

At various times the city limits have been extended, 
and various acts of Legislature have changed the gov- 
erning power. In 1820 the Legislature passed an "Act 

to Incorporate the City of Jersey, in the County of 

75 



YO Jersey City and its Historic Sites, 

Bergen." On the 23d of January, 1829, the corporate 
name was changed to " The Board of Selectmen and 
Inhabitants of Jersey City." On February 22d, 1838, 
the governing power was vested in the " Mayor and 
Common Council of Jersey City." It now ceased to 
be a part of Bergen Township and became a separate 
municipality. Dudley S. Gregory was the first Mayor 
of Jersey City. He served in that capacity in 1838- 
'39-'4i-'58 and '59. He lived in the building now used 
as a post office on Washington street, in what is still a 
pretty part of the city, with its four park corners on 
Washington and Grand streets. Mr. Gregory was a 
man of wealth and of public spirit ; he imported a large 
number of European shade trees, among them the 
variety of " horse chestnut " which has become a 
favorite shade tree throughout our eastern states, to 
such an extent that our native horse chestnuts or 
buckeyes are scarcely known in the east, the princi- 
pal difference being that the native varieties have smaller 
clusters of flowers which shade from a yellow or pink 
tinge to a deep pink or dull red. On March 8th, 1839, 
the city boundaries were extended along the northerly 
side of First street to the center of Grove street, thence 
southerly into Communipaw Bay to the line of South 
street, extended. Hudson County was set off from 
Bergen County in 1840. The township of Van Vorst, 
founded in 1804 by John B. Coles, was separated from 
the township of Bergen, March 1 1, 1841 ; it included all 
that portion formerly known as Ahasimus. In March, 
185 1, it became a part of Jersey City. 

In 1869 there was an effort made for the consolida- 
tion of the several cities and townships in Hudson 




Paulus Hook and Van Vorst. 



Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 77 

County, east of the Hackensack river, into one under 
the name of Jersey City. At the election held October 
5th, 1869, Jersey City, Bergen and Hudson City be- 
came one. The latter had been taken from the town- 
ship of North Bergen and incorporated as the *'Town 
of Hudson in the County of Hudson " on March 4th, 
1852. On the nth of April, 1859, it was incorporated 
as the ''City of Hudson," with powers of government 
vested in a mayor and common council. In 1873 the 
town of Greenville was annexed to Jersey City by 
legislative act. Greenville was originally a settlement 
of German families on a part of the Gautier tract. 
Lafayette was never a separate municipality ; the name 
was given by a land company to the Garrabrant farm 
when it was bought and mapped out in town lots in 
1856. The lots did not sell well until after the war. 
FORMING THE CITY. 
In the map of the new city prepared by the Associates, 
the streets were laid out at right angles and one thou- 
sand three hundred and forty-four lots were laid down. 
The eastern boundary was Hudson street, which was 
laid in the water with the exception of a small piece of 
upland that extended outward at Morris street. The 
southern boundary was South street, later called Mason 
street, and a few years ago vacated by the city. Har- 
simus was the northern boundary. It was nearly 
circular upland, of which the greatest extent was from 
one hundred feet north of Montgomery street to one 
hundred and seventy-five feet south of Essex street. 
More than half of the site for the proposed city was 
marsh and land under water. The westerly boundary 
was a line drawn from the east side of South street to 



78 Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 

a point near the corner of First and Washington streets. 
It was the plan of the Associates that the western 
border should front on a tide water canal, an island city, 
bordered by piers and docks and surrounded by navi- 
gable water. The Jersey City Journal's History of 
Jersey City claims that the city has lost commercial 
prestige by the failure to carry out that idea, also that 
another and even greater blunder was committed by 
the filling in of Mill Creek, which had been navigable 
by small sloops. The new city met with many dis- 
couragements; New York claimed jurisdiction over all 
lands under water up to low water mark on the Jersey 
shore. Alexander Hamilton and Joseph Ogden Hoff- 
man, as counsel to the Associates, gave a guarded 
answer that New York had no right to land under 
water at Paulus Hook. This boundary dispute was 
not settled until 1889. Mr. Van Vorst would not 
accept an equivalent for the annuity, which affected 
deeds and prevented many from purchasing the lots. 

In March, 1804, Colonel John Stevens, who had 
bought the confiscated estate of William Bayard, known 
as Castile, founded the city of Hoboken. One of the 
first measures was to build a road to Hackensack and 
to the Five Corners to bring travel from the different 
villages to his ferry. In December, 1804, the Associates 
organized the Newark Turnpike Company, which built 
the road now known as Newark avenue from Warren 
street to the Hackensack river. Through lower Jersey 
City it was a madademized road through a marsh. 
Previous to this there were but three roads in Harsi- 
mus — one the causeway leading to Paulus Hook now 
known as Newark avenue, second " the road to church 



Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 79 

and mill." This followed what is now the line of 
Henderson street, along the shore of Harsimus Cove 
to First street, where a bend carried it to the corner of 
Grove street and Newark avenue ; thence it followed 
the present line of Newark avenue to Monmouth street, 
along the foot of a sand hill which was the site of an 
earthwork outpost erected by the British during the 
Revolution. The last vestige of this hill, at the corner 
of Mercer and Brunswick streets, was removed in 1894. 
From this hill, nearly on the line of Railroad avenue, 
the. road ran to Prior's Mill on Mill Creek just below 
the Point of Rocks, thence by what is now Academy 
street to the village of Bergen. The third road began 
near the Van Vorst house on Henderson street and 
ran northwesterly to a point where Jersey avenue and 
Second street now intersect; thence at an angle to the 
base of Bergen Hill, where it crossed the road built by 
Stevens to Hackensack. 

The Associates built several little piers and a retain- 
ing wall along the east side of Hudson street from 
Grand to Essex, which served as a wharf for light 
draught vessels. They partly graded several streets 
and set out along them some six hundred shade trees, 
among them some Lombardy poplars, of which almost 
the only survivor is, or was recently, still standing near 
Mills' Oakum works on Wayne street. Lombardy 
poplars were introduced into this country by Andre 
Michaux, a French botanist, who came here in 1786 
with letters from Lafayette to Washington. He was 
authorized by the New Jersey Legislature to acquire 
an alien's title to two hundred acres of land and to 
"establish a Botanical Garden at Bergen." His place 



80 Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 

was known as the " Frenchman's Garden," and is now 
included in the " Macpelah Cemetery," The Associates 
reserved land for churches, a school, a shipyard and a 
public market. They urged Robert Fulton to establish 
his works in Jersey City and sold to him a block of 
ground for $i,ooo on five years time without interest. 
The deed was dated November 3d, 1804. His foundry 
was on the corner of Green and Morgan streets, with a 
dry dock in front of it ; here he built his first machinery 
for propelling a vessel by steam. The first steam 
boilers were of copper and wood was used for fuel. 



THE FERRIES. 

In 1804 Joseph Lyon, of EHzabethport, leased the 
ferry and moved the landing and stairs about midway 
between Grand and York streets, the slip opening di- 
agonally up the river. There were two row-boats with 
two oarsmen each and extra oars for the passengers to 
use if they were in haste to cross, and two periaugers. 
In 1805 the Associates built a new tavern of brick, 
known as the Hudson House. It is still standing on 
Grand near Hudson street, and is part of the Colgate 
Soap works. Between this hotel and the ferry landing 
was a semi-circular plot around which the stages would 
run to unload their passengers. In the center of this 
plot was a willow tree which was sometimes used as a 
whipping post. Winfield tells that as late as 1 8 14 a 
white-headed old man here received thirty-two lashes. 
The newspapers of the day advertised over twenty 
daily stage lines, besides the irregular stages, communi- 
cating with all parts of the state, and farmers wagons, 
even from Pennsylvania, brought produce to New York 
by way of this ferry. Horses and wagons were lifted 
on to the sail boats, but the ferriage was so expensive 
that in general the produce and freight was put upon 
the boats and the teams and wagons left in the stables 
of the Hudson House. The ferry site has been fre- 
quently changed. Its second removal was to the foot of 
York street; on April 1st, 1839, i^ was changed to the 
corner of Montgomery and Hudson streets; in 1856 the 
block east of Hudson street was filled in and the land- 
ing was changed to its present location. 

81 



82 Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 

In the fall of 1809 several Newark gentlemen sub- 
scribed $50,000 to start steam ferryboats, and Fulton 
was asked to construct such a boat as he would con- 
sider suitable for the purpose. In March, 181 1, they 
obtained the lease of the ferry and the right of land- 
ing on the New York side. Two boats were built by 
Charles Brown, a noted ship-builder of New York, who 
had built the Clermont in 1807 ^^^ Fulton, and whose 
ship-yard was on East river near Fourth and Sixth 
streets. They were eighty feet in length and thirty 
feet in width. The boats were named the Jersey and 
the York. The Jersey was the first boat finished and 
began her regular trips on July 17th, 1812. A passen- 
ger on its first day wrote to the" Centinelof Freedom,'* 
" I crossed the North river yesterday in the steamboat 
with my family in my carriage, without alighting there- 
from, in fourteen minutes, with an immense crowd of 
passengers. I cannot express to you how much the 
public mind appeared to be gratified at finding so large 
and so safe a machine going so well. On both shores 
were thousands of people viewing this pleasing object." 
There was a grand entertainment to celebrate the oc- 
casion given at Lyons Tavern, to the Mayor and Com- 
mon Council of New York and others. 

I give Fulton's description of the boats as quoted by 
Winfield in his History of Hudson County: ** She is 
built of two boats, each ten feet beam, 80 feet long and 
five feet deep in the hold ; which boats are distant 
from each other ten feet, confined by strong transverse 
beam knees and diagonal traces, forming a deck thirty 
feet wide and eighty feet long. The propelling water 
wheel is placed between the boats to prevent it from 



PI 

> 

o 

►^ 

H 
K 




Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 83 

injury from ice and shocks on entering or approaching 
the dock. The whole of the machinery being placed 
between the two boats leaves ten feet on the deck of 
each boat for carriages, horses and cattle, etc. ; the 
other having neat benches and covered with an awning, 
is for passengers, and there is also a passage and stair- 
way to a neat cabin, which is fifty feet long and five 
feet clear from the floor to the beams, furnished with 
benches and provided with a stove in the winter. Al- 
though the two boats and space between them give 
thirty feet beam, yet they present sharp bows to the 
water and have only the resistance in the water of one 
boat of twenty feet beam. Both ends being alike and 
each having a rudder she never puts about. 

"The dock is one hundred and eighty feet long and 
seventy feet wide, the bridge is fastened to the middle 
of the bulkhead. The boat being only thirty feet wide 
and the dock seventy, leaves twenty feet vacant on 
each of her sides ; in each of these twenty feet spans 
and in the water are floating stages, made of pine logs, 
which lie favorably to the boat for thirty feet, and 
these run diagonally to the extreme end of the wharves, 
so that the boat when coming in hits within the seventy 
feet and the stages guide her direct to the bridge." 

In 1813 the York, built on the model of the Jersey, 
was completed and placed on the ferry. It is said that 
** they ordinarily took an hour and a half to make a 
trip." They started at sunrise from each side of the 
river and ran all day, every half hour, by " St. Paul's 
Church clock." The fares were collected on the boat 
during the passage over. The Jersey was in service 
for many years and finally being condemned, was 



84: Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 

broken up and sold to Mr. Isaac Edge, who built a 
stable from its planks and beams. From a portion of 
this wood two canes were made, which are still treasured 
in the Edge family. 

The Ferry Company had a very unfortunate experi- 
ence ; they sank all of their capital and in 1824 were 
obliged to assign their lease to Francis B. Ogden, 
Cadawalder D. Golden, and Samuel Svvartout, who 
secured a new lease for fifteen years and six months 
from November 1st, 1825. They were to provide two 
good steamboats, but were afterwards permitted to use 
a team-boat in place of one. They were also to pro- 
vide row boats. They bought and placed on the ferry 
the Washington. Within a year Messrs. Ogden and 
Svvartout transferred their interest to Mr. Golden; he 
failed to make it remunerative and surrendered the 
lease to the owners, " the Associates of the Jersey Com- 
pany." January ist, 183 1, they leased it to the New 
Jersey Railroad and Transportation Company. By 
renewals the lease was continued until 1853, when the 
Railroad bought up the stock of the Associates and 
became the owners of the ferry. The first night boat 
was put on in June, 1835. The line to the foot of 
Desbrosses street was started in 1862. These ferries 
were transferred to the Pennsylvania Railroad Com- 
pany in 1871. Among the various schemes to secure 
patronage for the ferry by bringing people from New 
York, was the erection in 1825 of a large amphitheatre 
on the south side of Sussex street, between Hudson 
and Green streets, on land leased from Mr. Drayton, 
Sr. For about two months large numbers, mostly 
from New York, gathered here on Fridays to witness 
the fighting of bulls, bears, buffaloes and dogs. 



EDGE'S WINDMILL. 

A quaint and interesting landmark of lower Jersey 
City, for some thirty years, was the windmill near the 
corner of Montgomery and Green streets ; to be exact, 
it stood upon a pier one hundred feet in length, seven- 
ty-five feet north of Montgomery street, and fifty feet 
east of Green street. According to the family tradi- 
tions this mill, an exact duplicate of one owned by 
himself in Derbyshire, England, was sent by Mr. Edge, 
Sr., to his son Mr. Isaac Edge, soon after he settled in 
Jersey City in 1806, in appreciation of his success in 
the New World. Every part was marked to insure its 
proper erection. The motive power was a windmill 
upon an octagonal stone tower seven stories in height. 
The fans on the wings were originally of canvas, but 
these were destroyed by a September gale in 1821, 
when Mr. Edge replaced them with iron fans. It was 
quite a celebrated mill and considered the best in 
America. It faithfully ground its grists until taken 
down in 1839 to make room for the New Jersey Rail- 
road tracks ; but its days of usefulness were not over, 
it was removed to Town Harbor, L. I., from there it 
was taken to Southold, L. I., where it continued to do 
good work until destroyed by fire on June 25th, 1870. 

In connection with the mill Mr. Edge started a 
bakery, which not only supplied Jersey City people 
with their daily bread at twenty-five cents a loaf, but 
ships also. The bakery stood on the southwest corner 
of York and Green streets. It was burned in 181 1, 



86 Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 

but Mr. Edge rebuilt it and the building is still stand- 
ing. The family still have in their possession the 
ledger of the old mill and some of the entries are very 
interesting. The accounts were kept in English cur- 
rency until i8i6. In 1812 flour was sold at the mill 
for eighteen dollars per barrel. Abraham Reynolds 
paid one pound, sixteen shillings to have forty-five 
bushels of wheat ground and three shillings and six 
pence for its ferriage across the river. The freight on 
three barrels of bread sent to Sandy Hook was four 
pounds, four shillings, three pence. James Parker re- 
ceived for his labor only five shillings a day, while 
Jabez Spinning received thirteen shillings. Mr. Edge 
lived at the corner of Green and York streets on the 
water front. 




Town Hai.l and School 



CITY HALL AND SCHOOLS. 

The first school on Paulus Hook was started in 1806. 
The Associates gave the land and the town authorities 
provided the money for the building, which was lo- 
cated on the two lots east of St. Mathew's Church. 
The building was used also as a town hall and a meet- 
ing place for the different religious denominations. 
The school was called the '* Mechanics' Institute" and 
was a pay school. Soon after the ** Columbia Public 
School " was started and supported by subscriptions. 
In 1834 both failed financially and were combined and 
reorganized in 1835 as the Mechanics' School. In 1838 
the mayor and common council, under the new charter, 
removed the building to the rear lot and remodeled it as 
a school-house, town hall and jail, at the cost of $1,300. 
After a time the building used as town hall, church, 
school and jail ceased to be used by the city ofificials, 
who met at different taverns and halls until 1861, when 
the city hall was completed at a cost of $135,145. It 
was situated on the south side of Newark avenue west 
of Coopers' alley. The council chamber was artistical- 
ly frescoed by a brother of General Garibaldi, then a 
refugee here. The wall behind the president's desk 
represented a Venetian scene from a columned piazza, 
and was dainty and effective. Some years later it was 
ruined by a house painter in repairmg and renovating 
the room. In 1887, measures were begun to erect a 
larger city hall to meet the demands of the larger city. 
The corner stone of the new building was laid at noon 

87 



88 Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 

May 26th, 1894, and it was completed January 1st, 
1896. It is located on the block between Grove and 
Henderson, Mercer and Montgomery streets. The 
total cost, $736,267.56. It is quite an imposing build- 
ing and large enough to accommodate the various de- 
partment of the city government. The interior ar- 
rangement is particularly fine; upon entering, the broad 
corridors give a pleasant impression, and the offices are 
spacious, light and commodious. An attempt is being 
made to have in the mayor's room, portraits of the 
mayors of Jersey City. Several have been presented 
but the list is not yet complete. 

PUBLIC SCHOOL NO. I. 

In 1843 the state school money, the receipts from 
liquor licenses and the money received from the Bergen 
Township funds were appropriated for the Public 
School, then first called School No. I. It was still 
held in the Town House. The primary pupils paid 
fifty cents a quarter, in the higher branches the fees 
were one dollar a quarter. Where the pupils were 
unable to pay, their dues were charged against the 
public funds. In 1847 a new school house was erected 
in York street, west of Washington street. It still 
forms the central portion of the present school build- 
ing which has just been remodeled and rebuilt, and is 
now a very beautiful structure. In 1848 the school 
was opened with Mr. Linsley as principal, who is said 
to have organized at School No. i " the first Normal 
School in the country, " possibly in this state, but in 
1840 there was a Normal School at Camden, Oneida 
County, New York. 



Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 89 

SCHOLARSHIPS. 

In 1846 Columbia College presented Jersey City 
with a free Scholarship, which was accepted by the 
Common Council on March 26th, 1847. Several stu- 
dents from Jersey City had the benefit of this scholar- 
ship as late as 1890, about which time the privilege 
seems to have been withdrawn. At present a free 
scholarship in the University of the City of New York 
and one in Rutgers College are open to the young men 
of Jersey City who attend the High School. The only 
condition being that the applicant must attain a cer- 
tain percentage and stand in the upper third of the 
graduating class. The next vacancies will occur in 
June, 1899, In i860 Mr. William Dickinson became a 
member of the School Board and practically reor- 
ganized the school system. Until his death he was 
connected with the Board in some capacity and to him 
is due in a large degree the excellence and the high 
standing of the Jersey City schools. The High School 
was organized in 1872 and in 1876 stood second only 
to the Boston High School. 

In her various public schools, Jersey City possesses 
a splendid corps of teachers, whose faithful, efficient 
work has been broadly demonstrated in the practical 
education of hundreds of men and women of Jersey 
City. The many who have been able to have more 
extended educational advantages look back with pride 
to their early school days in Jersey City's public 
schools, where were laid the thorough foundations of 
their education. In 1897 the Women's Club started a 
free kindergarten ; in 1898 the Board of Education 



90 Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 

came to their assistance, and before very long we hope 
to see the kindergarten a recognized branch of the 
public school system of our city. There are many 
private and parochial schools of great excellence in 
the city, but this is too limited a sketch to do them 
justice. 



POST OFFICE. 

The first post office was established in Jersey City in 
1807 by Postmaster General Grainger. Up to that 
tinne people went to New York or Newark for their 
letters. For many years people called at the office for 
their mail ; then there was a local system of carriers, 
people duly authorized who delivered letters at the 
houses, for which they received one cent on each letter, 
the only pay allowed them. This method was in oper- 
ation as late as 1867, possibly later, but about that time 
carriers were appointed and paid by the government. 
Sub-stations were started after the consolidation of the 
cities. The lamp post boxes came somewhat later. 
I am told that there was no post office in Bergen until 
the establishment of a sub-station. After the consoli- 
dation of the cities, newspapers were sent from the 
Newark or Jersey City office to a store in Bergen. 
Just when the Hudson City post office was opened I 
cannot say, but during the Civil War the Bergen people 
came to Hudson City for their mail. 



91 



CHURCHES. 

The Bergen Church had made an effort to start a 
branch at Jersey City, but the first successful church 
society was that of St. Mathew's Episcopal Church 
which was organized August 21, 1808. The services 
were held for several years in the school building. 
October 22, 183 1, the corner stone of the church was 
laid on Sussex, between Washington and Warren 
streets; the building was consecrated November 26, 
1835. The first Presbyterian society in Jersey City 
was founded in 1809 and held services in the Jersey 
Academy. The first Presbyterian Church was organ- 
ized December 15th, 1825. The Particular Baptist 
Church of Jersey City and Harsimus was organized 
March 11, 1839. The building is still standing on the 
west side of Barrow street, between Newark and Rail- 
road avenues. Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church 
was organized in 1836. It is said that the first Catholic 
services in Jersey City were held for the French potters 
that were brought over to make porcelain, but the 
Roman Catholics of New Jersey were under the juris- 
diction of the diocese of New York until October 30th, 
1853, when the diocese of New Jersey was created. 
St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church, begun in 183 1, 
opened for service in 1837, stood on the site now occu- 
pied by St. Aloysius Academy. The second and 
present building is on the northeast corner of Grand 
and Van Vorst streets. This parish has been in posses- 
sion of the Jesuit Fathers since April 13, 1871. The 



Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 93 

Tabernacle Church, the first successful Congregation- 
al Church in Jersey City, was organized in 1858 ; it 
is situated on the southeast corner of Henderson and 
York streets and is noted among other things for its 
'• People's Palace " and good work among the poor of 
the parish. From 1853 until 1859 there was an Uni- 
tarian church on the southeast corner of Grove and 
Montgomery streets. The pastor, Rev. O. B. Froth- 
ingham, was a very talented man and popular lecturer, 
but soon after he left the society disbanded. As early 
as 1852 attempts were made to organize an Universalist 
Church, but none were successful until 1872, when the 
First Universalist Church of Jersey City was incorpor- 
ated. There are now nearly one hundred churches of 
the various denominations in the city. 



BUSINESS INTERESTS. 

1824 saw the opening of Dummer's Glass Works on 
Communipaw Cove, west of Washington street and 
south of Morris Canal. The site is now occupied by 
the sugar house. The flint glass of these works, started 
in 1824, has never been excelled. In 1825 the Jersey 
Porcelain and Earthen Ware Company was incorpor- 
ated in the Town of Jersey, County of Bergen. Under 
the Act of Legislature George Dummer, Timothy 
Dewey, Henry Post, Jr., William W. Shirley and 
Robert Abbatt, Jr., were named as incorporators. In 
1826, at the exhibition of the Franklin Institute in 
Philadelphia, a silver medal was awarded to this pottery 
for the '* best china from American materials." This 
pottery is exceedingly interesting from the fact that it 
was the pioneer in America along several lines ; it was 
the first to manufacture porcelain, for which French 
workmen had been brought over. For three years 
they manufactured porcelain of good body and excel- 
lent glaze. About 1829 Messrs. D. and J. Henderson 
bought the works and manufactured flint stone ware of 
superior quality. 

In 1833 David Henderson organized the "American 
Pottery Manufacturing Company," for the purpose of 
manufacturing various kinds of pottery. By Act of 
Assembly of January 1 8th, 1833, the following com- 
missioners were appointed to solicit stock subscriptions: 
David Henderson, John V. B. Varick, Robert Gilchrist, 

J. Dickinson Miller, of Jersey City, and Edward Cook, 

94 



Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 95 

George Tingle and J.Steele, of New York. During 
the seven years following there was made at this 
pottery the first successful competition with England 
in the manufacture of a buff or cream colored ware of 
excellent quality, and for the first time in America was 
adopted the English method of printing transfer in 
decoration. During the Presidential campaign of 
1840 there was made here a large eight-sided water 
pitcher of cream colored ware ; on the four front panels 
were black under glaze prints of a log cabin above the 
legend " The Ohio Farmer," and below a portrait bust 
of W. H. Harrison, with the American Eagle. The 
mark on the bottom in black under glaze was a flag 
with the inscription, " American Pottery Manufacturing 
Company, Jersey City." 

In Jennie Young's " Ceramic Art" it is said that at 
the old Jersey City Pottery the '* throwing and turning 
of earthenware upon the English principle was first 
performed in America by William and James Taylor." 
About this time Daniel Greatback, a member of a 
family of noted English potters, and at one time a 
modeller for the Ridgeways of Cauldron place, England, 
came to this factory and designed many ornamental 
pieces. For its first embossed ware the factory re- 
ceived a medal from the Franklin Institute. One 
style, a spittoon, was of a glazed white ware with raised 
white figures on a blue ground, the upper surface fluted 
and solid blue. About 1850 the name was changed to 
*' The Jersey City Pottery." Many of the best potters 
in the United States learned their trade here. After 
several changes, Mr. John Rouse and Mr. Nathaniel 
Turner became proprietors of the pottery. Mr. Rouse 



96 Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 

came from the Derby works, England, and Mr. Turner 
from the Staffordshire potteries at Tunstall, England. 
They made porous cups for telegraphic purposes and 
many ornamental forms in white biscuit and glazed 
ivory white for decorators. One of the most graceful 
forms was the Worcester vase, a reproduction of an 
old pattern at the Worcester works in England. 
Among others were four different sizes and varieties 
of Toby jugs, a pitcher with rope and anchor design, a 
figure of Christ, and Apostle jug; some, if not all, de- 
signs of Greatback. On many of the wares portraits 
were modelled in relief, that of Daniel O'Connell was 
among the best. The pottery property was sold in 
1892 and the old buildings destroyed. It is said that 
many priceless old moulds were thrown out upon the 
meadows and broken up. Mr. John O. Rouse still 
manufactures porous cups within two blocks of the site 
of the old pottery. 

Previous to 1829 there were but few manufacturing 
interests in Jersey City. In that year several factories 
were established here, and since 1840 they have steadily 
increased until they are now so extended and varied, 
that in a sketch of this limited character they can only 
be lightly touched upon. While many business firms 
began here, others have removed to this city from 
other places ; notably the Lorillard Tobacco Factory, 
which, started in New York in 1760, has grown to be 
the largest of its kind in the country. It is also a 
leading company in its care for the three thousand and 
more of its employees, providing a library, evening 
schools, sewing classes, and dispensary, besides the 
most careful sanitary precautions. The Sugar House, 



Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 97 

whose output approximates seven thousand barrels a 
day. The Colgate's Soap and Perfumery Works started 
in New York in 1806, but have been in Jersey City for 

many years. 

The Dixon Crucible Works, started by Joseph Dixon, 
the inventor of the Graphite Crucible, first estabHshed 
at Salem, Mass., in 1826, removed to Jersey City about 
1 850. Mr. Dixon introduced his invention in numerous 
factories in America and Europe, but the one in Jersey 
City, with its importations of graphite from Ceylon 
and Bohemia, its ownership of graphite mines in New 
England and New York State, and of a great cedar 
working plant in Florida, is the only factory in the 
world where all graphite products, crucibles, pencils, 
stove poHsh and lubricants are manufactured under the 
one management. 

About 1830, Mr. Isaac Edge established a factory 
for the manufacture of fireworks, which grew to be the 
largest in the country, and was widely known in Europe 
and South America. He was the inventor of the 
scenic fireworks, so popular to-day, and his manufac- 
tory was a training school for American pyrotechnists. 
Jersey City can boast a long list of inventors, from 
Robert Fulton down; Professors Morse and House 
were residents of Jersey City while evolving the tele- 
" graph ; and in many of the factories and foundries are 
numerous inventions of the mechanical experts con- 
nected with them ; for instance, the weaving and knit- 
ting machinery of the fire hose factory are the inven- 
tions of Mr. D. L. Stowe, an officer of the company 
and a resident of Jersey City. The Thompson and 
Bushnell Foundry Company are inventors of numerous 



98 Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 

valuable patents in their line ; the list might be ex- 
tended far beyond our limit. The first Stock Yard 
and Transit Company in the country was opened at 
Communipaw in 1866. 

I have found the statement that the " first bell made 
in a mould from blistered bar (cast) steel was made 
May 27, 1827, at Jersey City." Also that the Kam- 
schatka, " the largest war steamship in the world, in 
November, 1840, received her machinery at Jersey 
City." I have been unable to learn to what nation the 
Kamschatka belonged, nor what foundries furnished 
her machinery, and made the bell. 



FIRE AND POLICE DEPARTMENTS. 

In 1829 a Fire Department was started by public 
subscription ; about the same time the Police Depart- 
ment also had its remote beginning in the appointment 
of seven watchmen. After their term of office expired 
their places were not filled until, in 1837, four night 
watchmen were appointed and the City Marshal 
served by day. In 1844 three men were appointed to 
serve as watchmen and lamplighters, with a salary of 
$32 a month. In 1845 they were required to call the 
hour during the night '* until the hour of calling off 
arrive." Not until 18 51 were uniform caps and clubs 
introduced. In 1859 the first station house was built 
at Cooper's alley and Gregory street. The present 
form of police government was started in 1866 and the 
first mounted police were organized in 1873. 

The first attorney to practice law in Jersey City was 
James Wilson, who opened an office in 18 12. The 
Hudson County Bar dates from the forming of Hudson 
County in 1840; at that time there were only eight 
lawyers in this locality. The first court of the new 
county opened in Lyceum Hall in Grand street, 
Jersey City, on April 14th, 1840, where it continued to 
be held until September 19th, 1843, when the court re- 
moved to the Newkirk house at the Five Corners, until 
the new Court House was completed March 11, 1845. 
The situation of the Court House was warmly debated, 
each town strongly urging its claims, but finally Hud- 
son City was decided upon, and a site on Newark 



100 Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 

avenue was selected for the Court House and Jail ; the 
latter was finished a little later than the Court House, 
and both were built from trap rock quarried on the 
site. Until 1843 there had been neither a City At- 
torney nor a City Physician, but in that year both of 
these offices were created. In that same year the city 
introduced street lamps, but at first in only those lo- 
calities in which the property owners had made appli- 
cation for them. Gas was first used in Jersey City on 
December 1st, 1852 ; the streets were first lighted with 
it a few days later, one hundred and seventy-four street 
lamps being required. Electric lighting for the streets 
began about 1884. The first telephone service in the 
city was in 1878. 



RAILROADS AND STEAMSHIPS. 

In 1834 the New Jersey Railroad and the Paterson 
and Hudson River Railroad were opened and led to a 
new era in the history of Jersey City. The New Jersey 
Railroad extended to Newark, with work in progress 
toward Philadelphia. Its one car was advertised as 
" the passenger car 'Washington,' a splendid and beau- 
tiful specimen of workmanship, containing three apart- 
ments besides seats on top." Regular trips began 
September 15th, 1834. Eight trips a day were made, 
going from Jersey City to Newark in one hour and a 
half. The railroad cut was made by the New Jersey 
Railroad in 1837, following the line of a water course, 
and a depression across the ridge, which made it very 
crooked ; the earth from the cut was piled up over one 
hundred feet high on the land belonging to the railroad 
back of the Tonnele place. The cars were drawn by 
horses until the locomotive, the Newark, was used 
December 2d, 1838. 

Beyond where the Boulevard and Pavonia avenue 
now join, the Railroad Company made a reservoir, 
which was fed by springs in the hillside, and from this 
they supplied their engines with water. Eventually 
this was incorrectly known as Tonnele's Pond. This 
road consolidated with the Camden and Amboy in 
1867. The consolidation was leased to the Pennsyl- 
venia Railroad Company in 1870. After they gained 
control they straightened the cut by blasting out a 
roadway through the solid rock. The Paterson and 

101 



102 Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 

Hudson River Railroad advertised its ** three splendid 
and commodious cars, each capable of accommodating 
thirty passengers, and drawn by fleet and gentle horses." 
In 1848 the road was extended to Sufferns and the 
Paterson dock was built to accommodate this railroad 
line. The ** Long Dock Company," incorporated in 
1856, completed the Bergen Tunnel January 28th, 
1 861, and in the following May opened the Pavonia 
Ferry. From 1853 ^^ xod.di was known as the Erie 
Railroad Company. The Central Railroad of New 
Jersey terminated at Elizabethport for many years. 
In i860 an act was passed authorizing the company to 
bridge Newark Bay and extend its line to Jersey City. 
This extension was completed and opened to travel 
August 1st, 1864. In 1836 the Morris Canal was 
completed. 

Some of the old inhabitants remember when the 
European Packet ships anchored in the river and their 
passengers were transferred to small boats to land 
them. It was in the decade of the 40's that the first 
trans-Atlantic steamship lines were established, and 
the Cunard Company, which was one of the earliest, 
the second I believe, built its docks at the foot of 
Grand street, Jersey City, in 1847. Its first steamer, 
the Hibernia, sailed on New Year's Day, 1848 ; it was a 
great gala day for the citizens, and on behalf of the city 
Mr. Joseph G. Edge fired a salute of 100 guns. Later 
the White Star S. S. Company had their docks in 
Jersey City, but eventually both lines removed to New 
York. At present the Vogemann and American lines 
have their freight docks here. 



STREET RAILWAYS. 

In early days the people of Bergen and Communipaw 
had to go by private conveyance or else walk to the 
ferry by the Mill road ; later stages were run by Peter 
Merselis from the ferry to Bergen, via Five Corners. 
There was an office and waiting room at the corner of 
Bay street and Newark avenue, and in Bergen the 
stages started from the Columbian Hotel, a building 
now known as Foye Hall, at Foye Place. After a time 
omnibuses were introduced, and large open sleighs 
were used in the winter. Peter Merselis sold out to 
the Jersey City and Bergen Railroad Company which 
was incorporated by an act of the Legislature of New 
Jersey approved March 15, 1859. Under this act they 
were authorized to lay out and construct a railroad 
from some point on the Kill von KuU, at or near 
Bergen Point, to the Newark Turnpike road leading 
from Jersey City to Newark, with the privilege of con- 
structing one or more branches extending to the sev- 
eral ferries in the County of Hudson, south of Hoboken. 
During several years they ran a line with dummy 
engines from the Pennsylvania Railroad ferry to Bergen 
Point. 

The Common Council of Jersey City granted per- 
mission to lay a single track of iron rails in Montgomery 
street, Newark avenue, Grove street to Montgomery 
street, Gregory street to York street, and Hudson 
street to Montgomery street. After the railway was 
laid it was lawful for the company to run cars to be 

103 



104 Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 

drawn by horses. These first street cars were peculiar; 
they were like the body of an omnibus set on a truck ; 
the driver's seat was up on top in front ; by means of a 
strap he opened or pulled shut a door in the rear of 
the car; the door was reached by two or three steps. 
Fares were passed up to the driver through a hole back 
of the driver's seat. At the ends of the route the 
driver turned the horses and the car turned upon the 
truck, which was stationary. Long after ordinary 
street cars were introduced these were used for night 
traffic, the last car leaving the ferry about midnight. 

The Common Council of Bergen granted a franchise 
in 1864 for the operation of horse cars; this franchise 
included that part of the city known as Lafayette. 
As late as 1870 long open sleighs were used in heavy 
snows during the winter, instead of the cars. For ten 
or fifteen years the cars were not heated during the 
cold weather, straw being put on the floor as a pro- 
tection for cold feet. The first trolley car was run in 
Jersey City on the Montgomery street line, from Ber- 
gen avenue to Monmouth street, in 1890. In 1893 the 
Consolidated Traction Company took charge, and in 
November of that year on several of the lines the horse 
cars were replaced by the trolley system. The exten- 
sive car sheds of the Company are on the south side of 
Montgomery street east of Bergen avenue, and on the 
north side of Montgomery street between Tuers avenue 
and Jordan street, partly on the site of Tuers Pond, 
which was filled in over thirty years ago. 



WATER WORKS. 

In lower Jersey City the water supply from the 
wells was inferior and insufficient in quantity. Ac- 
cording to Winfield there was quite a business carried 
on at one time in carting water from the hill and sell- 
ing it by the pail from door to door. Upon March 1st, 
1839, a company was incorporated and authorized to 
arrange for a water supply for the city, but it failed to 
accomplish anything. On March i8th, 185 1, Edwin A. 
Stevens, Edward Coles, Dudley S. Gregory, Abraham 
J. Van Boskerck and John D. Ward were appointed a 
Board of Water Commissioners to supply Hoboken, 
Van Vorst and Jersey City with pure water. They 
employed William S. Whitwell as engineer. Numerous 
plans were suggested but the commissioners decided 
upon taking the water from the Passaic at Belleville. 
Mr. Whitwell began the work near Belleville, August 
26th, 185 1, and submitted his plan on December 9th 
of the same year. On March 25th, 1852, legislative 
authority was given to construct the works. Upon 
June 30th, 1854, water was let into the pipes from 
Belleville, and on August 15th, distributed through the 
city. Up to that date the cost was $652,995.73. At 
that time the water in the Passaic at Belleville was so 
pure and clear that the stones could be seen at the 
bottom of the river. At the same time the board 
adopted a sewerage plan, a tidal canal from Communi- 
paw Cove to Harsimus Cove, principally along the line 
of Mill Creek and Hoboken Creek. The scheme pro- 

105 



106 Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 

vided that it should be open to navigation, and it was 
believed that factories, lumber, coal, and stone yards 
would locate along its shores, but it was never carried 
out. The water and sewerage questions are still un- 
solved problems of grave importance in Jersey City. 



WAR RECORDS. 

ARMY. 

In the Civil War Jersey City was well represented. 
It is estimated that from the district now included in 
the city, one man from every five went to the war. 
From no part of the North was the response to the 
Nation's need more prompt or more loyal than in Jer- 
sey City. The President's call for seventy-five thousand 
troops was issued on Monday, April 15th, 1861. At 
the mass meeting held at the Hudson House on Grand 
street, on Tuesday evening, the first man in the state 
to sign the rolls of volunteers was James M. Weart, 
a young lawyer in his twenty-third year. He re-en- 
listed when his first term expired and served with 
distinction throughout the war. The Second Regi. 
ment of three months men was recruited entirely from 
this district. At the first call for troops some of the 
business men of Jersey City advanced the money 
necessary for their outfits. A camp was formed for 
the Jersey troops west of the reservoir and was occu- 
pied from the beginning to the close of the war. The 
Second was the only regiment recruited entirely from 
Jersey City, but different companies joined various 
Jersey regiments and many men enlisted in New York 
regiments, but wherever they went they sustained the 
reputation won in Revolutionary days of the *' True 
Blues of Jersey." 

Many of her brave men, officers and privates, were 
left upon southern battlefields. After the battle of An- 

107 



108 Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 

tietam eleven families in one block in Fifth street 
mourned for their dead heroes. Colonel Zabriskie and 
Colonel Van Houten both fell in battle. Their mem- 
ories are still cherished and their brave deeds comem- 
orated in the Grand Army Posts which bear their 
names. Others were more fortunate and lived to wear 
the honors won by them. Chief of Police Benjamin 
Murphy enlisted before he was seventeen, in the 8th N. 
J. Infantry, which belonged to the famous Second 
New Jersey Brigade. He was one of less than twenty 
men of his regiment who served with it continuously 
from its organization until it was mustered out without 
having been absent during its service of four years and 
eleven months. He was promoted from private through 
the various grades of non-commissioned officers up to 
captain. After the war he was connected with the 
post office for a time, and raised Company " C " of 
the 4th Regiment about 1893. After he joined the 
police force he resigned from the National Guard. 
The good order and discipline of the police force is 
due to his executive ability. He was the author of 
and secured the passage of ** The Tenure of Office " 
law, which has improved the police force throughout 
the state. Colonel Robinson of the police force is a 
war veteran also, but served with a Maryland regiment 
and came to Jersey City after the war. 

Brevet Major General John Ramsey had " few supe- 
riors as a stubborn fighter." Several times he received 
honorable mention in official reports and won his pro- 
motions step by step, from ist Lieutenant up, for "dis- 
tinguished gallantry." Colonel John J. Toffey entered 
the Second Regiment a boy of eighteen, re-enlisted in the 



Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 109 

33rd Regiment as Lieutenant, and at Chattanooga was 
called upon to lead a forlorn hope in the place of two cap- 
tains who had fallen in the attempt ; his " superlatively 
brave conduct saved the position and enabled the entire 
line the following morning to press forward and unite 
the lines of the army of the Cumberland with those of 
General Sherman's army at the mouth of the Chicka- 
mauga." At the moment of success Colonel Toffey 
received a wound which incapacitated him from future 
service on the field, but he has continued his military 
services in the Veteran Corps and in the State Militia. 
He is the proud possessor of a Medal of Honor, granted 
by Congress under the Act of 1863, ** for distinguished 
bravery in the battle of Chattanooga, November 23, 
1863." 

Although Jersey City has been so well represented 
in the volunteer army, there are but three Jersey City 
men in the regular army; Captain J. B. Vreeland, 
now retired, but serving as Quartermaster in the war 
with Spain, and George B. Arrowsmith and John J. 
Toffey, Jr., who have been appointed Second Lieuten- 
ants during the present summer. The late Major 
Gaines was in the regular army and served during the 
Mexican War. He organized a regiment during the 
Civil War. For a great many years he was connected 
with the Surveyors' Department of the New York 
Custom House, and was the delegate appointed by the 
United States at the Paris International Conference to 
bring about a uniform system of measuring the tonnage 
of vessels. He was also prominent in procuring in- 
creased cubic space for steerage passengers. 



110 Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 

NAVY. 

Mr. William Knickerbocker Van Reypen entered the 
service as Assistant Surgeon December 26th, 1861. 
Having been promoted through the various grades, he 
now holds the position of Surgeon General of the 
Navy. Of good Dutch lineage on both sides of the 
house, he is proving his sterling inheritances by the 
masterly manner in which he is meeting the terrible 
responsibilities of his position in providing for all 
emergencies in the Medical Department of the Navy 
in this war with Spain. To Surgeon General Van 
Reypen the world is indebted for the Hospital Ship in 
war. At the International Medical Congress, held in 
Moscow in 1896, he presented the plan which was 
carried out by the United States Government in fitting 
out the Solace and Relief during the present summer, 
which were the first ever used. A most valuable ad- 
dition to a fleet in war, not only in the relief afforded 
to the sick and wounded, but in rendering the ships 
more efificient by leaving them with fighting men only, 
unhampered by the sick and disabled. There is so 
little space on board men-of-war which can be utilized 
for hospital purposes that the chances of recovery for 
the wounded are largely increased. Civilian doctors 
who have visited the Solace are enthusiastic over the 
perfection of its arrangements for the sick and wounded. 
It is a marvel that a ship not built for the purpose 
could be so well adapted to hospital needs. Jersey 
City may well be proud of Surgeon General Van 
Reypen. 

The only other representatives of Jersey City in the 
navy during the war, so far as I can learn, were in the 



Jersey City and its Historic Sites. Ill 

volunteer navy : Acting Master James M. Van Boskerck, 
who was in command of a guard boat at Alexandria, 
Virginia; Dr. Forman, who served as assistant surgeon 
during the war, and Mr. Daniel Toffey, who acted as 
captain's clerk for his uncle, Captain John L. Worden, 
on the first Monitor that was built and went into 
service as an experiment in 1862. Mr. Toffey acted as 
aid in carrying orders during the famous battle be- 
tween the Monitor and the Merrimac. Of the nine 
monitors ordered by the government during the Civil 
War, six were built in Jersey City ship-yards. Aside 
from the above named, I have been unable to learn of 
many other citizens of Jersey City who have served in 
the navy. About 1835, Commodore Wetmore built 
a large white house on Newark avenue below Baldwin 
avenue where he and his family lived for many years. 
At one time he was in command of the Constitution at 
the Brooklyn Navy Yard. At the building of the Hud- 
son County Court House, Commodore Wetmore de- 
termined the astronomical position and the following 
is the latitude and longitude of the observation spot : 

Latitude 40°, 43'. 5o', north. 

Longitude ... 14I1., 48m., 44-. is., or 74°, 3'. 40.5% west. 

At present Lieutenant Harry Phelps, who graduated 
from the U. S. Naval Academy in the Class of 1880, 
Lieutenant Charles Phillips Eaton of the Class of 1883. 
and Lieutenant PhiHp Andrews of the Class of 1886, 
are, I believe, the only line officers in the navy from 
Jersey City. 

NATIONAL GUARD. 

The Journal's History of Jersey City gives an inter- 
esting sketch of the origin and development of the 



112 Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 

National Guard of the state and ascribes to Mr. Wil- 
liam E. Rogers, a former resident of Hudson City, the 
honor of being the founder of the 4th Regiment and 
of the National Guard of New Jersey. He was a 
member of the National Zouaves, a New York com- 
pany, drilled by W. W. McChesney, the former drill 
master of the Ellsworth Zouaves. This company was 
one of the first to enlist for two years in the beginning 
of the Civil War. During the first year Private Rogers 
was severely wounded while on picket duty and in- 
capacitated for active field duty, but he obtained a de- 
tail as chief clerk of the General Hospital, now the 
Soldiers' Home at Fortress Monroe, where he served 
until mustered out of service. After his return he be- 
came the teacher of a Bible class of forty boys in Simp- 
son M. E. Church on Central avenue. The boys in- 
duced him to give them instruction in the manual of 
arms. A company was formed which was known 
officially as "Company A, unattached, N. J. Rifle 
Corps." Its first public appearance was in a parade 
at Newark, on Washington's birthday, 1865. It turned 
out eighty strong, in a blinding snow storm, and by its 
discipline and soldierly bearing won the commendation 
and friendship of Governor Ward and Major General 
Runyon, the reviewing officers. 

There was much opposition to Company A by the 
officers of the old Hudson Brigade, of which there was 
not left a single uniformed and equipped company. 
Through the efforts of Mr. Rogers a committee was 
appointed to draw up a law to conform with the Na- 
tional Guard Act passed by Congress. General Run- 
yon, Colonel Plume and Colonel Rogers were the 



Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 113 

committee. After much opposition the Legislature 
passed the law and Governor Randolph signed the 
act March 9th, 1869. Other companies were formed: 
Company B, by Captian BuUard; Company C, by 
Captains McLaughlin and Murphy; Company D, by 
Lieutenant J. J, Toffey ; Company E, by Captain 
Henry G. Shaw; Company F, by Captain John B. 
Randolph. General orders were issued creating the 
six companies into the 4th Regiment, N. J. Rifle Corps, 
with Colonel William E. Rogers, Lieutenant Colonel 
C. G. Van Reyper, Major William B. Shafer. By a 
general order issued by Adjutant General W. S. 
Stryker on April 14th, 1869, these six companies and 
Company G of the Second Regiment, N. J. State Mili- 
tia, were assigned to the Fourth Regiment, First 
Brigade. 

Colonel Rogers was appointed Inspector General on 
the Staff of General Runyon, and for more than a year 
was constantly occupied in securing compliance 
throughout the state with the National Guard Act. 
The regiment gave an inaugural concert and hop at 
Kepler's Hall (now the Academy of Music) on the 
evening of May 12th, 1869 — " one of the most brilliant 
events in the history of the city up to that time." 
For twenty-five years their armory was at 25 and 27 
Newark avenue. The new armory in Bergen avenue 
was completed in February, 1895. The regiment has 
served honorably on several occasions in suppressing 
riots, both at home and in other states ; it has joined 
in numerous parades, and has acted as Guard of Honor 
at the funerals of several notables. At the State Camp 
its members have nearly all qualified as marksmen at 



114 Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 

the state rifle ranges. One of its early officers, Lieu- 
tenant Colonel Shaw, was the author of the competi- 
tive system of rifle shooting: as practiced in the United 
States. He was instrumental in starting the Creed- 
moor Range, which was known for years as the Ameri- 
can Wimbledon, but has since been surpassed by the 
New Jersey State Range in the variety of ranges for 
different shooting. 

NAVAL MILITIA. 

The Naval Militia of New Jersey was organized in 
the spring of 1895. The members are largely from 
Jersey City, Newark and Hoboken. The Navy Depart- 
ment allowed them the old man-of-war, the Ports- 
mouth, which had been dismantled and consigned to 
" Rotten Row." The Jersey sailors have fitted her up 
with masts and rigging and again she is fit to go to 
sea and has become once more a school to turn out 
thorough going seaman. In addition to the yearly 
cruise on the Portsmouth, the militia have drills, in- 
spections, etc., on board other men-of-war. In 1897 
these drills were aboard the Maine off Tompkinsville, 
and from the official report of the Board of Naval 
officers to inspect them, the following data is taken : 

" The Battalion of the East : 

*' Fifteen commissioned officers ; eight chief petty 
officers ; one hundred and eighty-six officers and en- 
listed men. 

"The commander, executive officer and navigator 
are elected by majority vote of all the commissioned 
officers; the adjutant, ordinance officer, paymaster, 
surgeon and assistant surgeon are appointed by the 



Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 115 

commander ; the divisional officers are elected by the 
men of their divisions. Three of the commissioned 
officers are graduates of the Naval Academy. Another 
passed two years and seven months at the Naval 
Academy ; and two are from the merchant service. 

*' The state appropriations average about SZoOO and 
the balance of the fund needed has been contributed 
by the citizens and by the members of the battalion. 

"The armament consists of: 

" Main battery ; eleven 8 inch Dahlgreen M. L. 
smooth bore ; one converted Parrott B. L. R. Second- 
ary battery; one I pounder Hotchkiss Repeating Rifle, 
mark ii; two 3 inch B. L. R. (Navy Howitzer 350 
pounds); one Catling, long. Of the guns, all the second- 
ary have field carriages. Boat mounts are to come out 
of the U. S. appropriations. Small arms : 200 Lee 
rifles, 2d model; 45 calibre and accoutrements; 150 
Navy revolvers; 150 cutlasses; 150 belts, boxes and 
frogs. 

"The boats include i steam cutter, 3 cutters, 2 
whale-boats, i gig, and 2 dinghy. The signal outfit 
consists of the International Code, Navy numerals and 
wigwag flags. 

" The uniforms of the officers are similar to those 
worn in the regular Navy and that of the petty officers 
and men of the Navy pattern. 

" Tents are furnished when required by the Quarter- 
master of the state. The battalion owns a complete 
outfit of mess gear. 

" Drills and exercises on board ship : Seamanship, 
compass, log line, boats, signals, ship routine and dis- 
cipline. Onshore: Infantry, artillery, signalling. 



116 Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 

**The men of the Engineers' division have technical 
instruction at Stevens' Institute, on steamers of regu- 
lar lines running out from New York, and in operating 
and caring for the steam plant on board of the Ports- 
mouth." 

On several occasions the Battalion of the East 
has won praise and distinction in public parades, 
and during the present year have acquitted themselves 
with honor in the war with Spain. Among the first 
volunteers to be called into service last spring five of 
their men had charge of a signal station at Barnegat. 
Detailed to the Badger they took part in blockading 
duty off Cuba, where for several days the Badger was 
the flag ship. The Badger is the only ship manned by 
Naval Militia that captured any prize, and the Jersey 
boys are very proud of their record, having captured 
three. 



HOSPITALS AND CHARITIES. 

The plot an Washington street and South Cove, 
originally designed for a market site, was used on sev- 
eral occasions for cholera and small pox patients. In 
1868 the city decided to use it for the City Charity 
Hospital. In 1882 the city erected a larger hospital 
on Baldwin avenue near Montgomery street. In 1885 
the name was changed from Charity to City Hospital. 
At present there are two hospitals, the Warden's house, 
the stable and dead house. It is under the police man- 
agement. The surgeons and physicians gave their 
services : George O. Osborne has been Warden since 
1882. Samuel D. Key, the pharmacist, has served 
since 1870, and much of the excellence of the hospital 
is due to the efficiency of these two men. Christ 
Hospital, an Episcopalian institution, was first started 
in the old Tonnele mansion on Magnolia avenue. 
After a few years Dr. Abercrombie rented the build- 
ing, and largely through his efforts the hospital was 
made a success. In 1889 the new hospital was opened 
on Palisade avenue, and this year a large addition is 
being made to the building. In 1890 a training school 
for nurses was organized, which has graduated highly 
skilled and efficient nurses. There is an out-door de- 
partment which gives medical aid to a large number. 
The maintenance of the hospital is managed by the 
council, assisted by the hospital guilds. 

St. Francis Hospital was founded in 1864, by the 

" Sisters of the Poor of St. Francis," in a small way in 

n7 



118 Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 

a private dwelling on the northeast corner of old 
Fourth and Coles streets. Now they have the most 
complete hospital in the state, due, says the Journal's 
History of Jersey City, wholly to the tireless work and 
activity of the noble order of sisterhood who have 
charge of it. It is not endowed, is distinctly a charita- 
ble institution, receiving neither state nor municipal 
aid. Its charities are free to all, irrespective of creed, 
color or nationality. Its a splendid evidence of the 
devotion to duty, indomitable courage, perseverance, 
energy and self denial of the Sisters. The number of 
patients treated annually at St. Francis exceeds that 
of all other hospitals in Jersey City. 

The Home of the Homeless, started by a few ladies 
is 1883, now situated at 266 Grove street, has accom- 
plished a vast amount of good in sheltering hundreds 
of children and a few homeless women. The Children's 
Friend Society was incorporated in 1864. They es- 
tablished the first Children's Home on southeast 
corner of Erie street and Pavonia avenue, but in 1874 
built the present home in Glenwood avenue, near West 
side avenue. Here destitute homeless children are 
cared for, clothed and educated, trained to become 
self supporting men and women. One of the most 
worthy charities of the city. The Home for Aged 
Women grew out of the efforts of a few ladies who 
started a fund in January, 1866. In 1868 the Society 
was incorporated. For seventeen years the Home 
was at 131 Wayne street. In 1885 Mrs. Moore, a 
Scotch lady, gave the Society her property on the cor- 
ner of Bergen and Fairview avenues, in consideration 
of a home in the institution for the remainder of her 



Jersey City and its Historic Sites, 119 

life. They have added to the building, and it is now a 
comfortable home for a large number of old ladies. The 
Catholic Societies support the St. Michael's, St. Joseph 
and St. Mary's Orphan Asylums, each with a school 
connected. 

One of the most beneficient institutions of Jersey 
City is the Social Settlement, the Whittier House, 
founded by Miss Cornelia Bradford, in the old Clark 
house, 179 Grand street, in May, 1894. Miss Bradford 
is the head worker, and is assisted by five '* resident 
workers" and fifty "out workers," who come in from 
neighboring towns and Jersey City, to take charge of 
certain departments. The members of the various 
clubs and classes pay small fees which are merely 
nominal. The work has been extended to such a de- 
gree that last year it became necessary to hire another 
building and still another will be required this year. 
The work includes a kindergarten, medical and dental 
dispensaries, a sewing school, classes in dancing, physi- 
cal culture, in household service (the kitchen garden) 
and cooking ; numerous clubs, among which are the 
♦' Mothers," the *' Newsboys," '* Working-Girls," the 
Civic League, etc.; a Penny Provident Fund, a station 
of the Public Library, and altogether too many branches 
of usefulness to be enumerated here. In another part 
of the city Mrs. Brice Collard has a flourishing sewing 
school of over six hundred members; also a Mother's 
Club, both of which do much good work. 



THE CLUBS. 

There are in Jersey City over fifty clubs of various 
kinds. A few own handsome club houses, others meet- 
ing in hired rooms or at the homes of the members. 
So far as I can learn the Everett was the pioneer club 
of the city, and therefore justly gives precedence to 
the literary clubs. In 1865 the " Everett Literary 
Union " was organized, and met in a room over a store 
on Newark avenue. Debates and essays on various 
topics were the order of proceedings. Judge Dixon 
started it, and he. Judge Collins, Mr. William Brown 
and Mr. Walker were among the twenty-five gentle- 
men who composed the society ; most of whom now 
belong to the Cosmos Club. The Cosmos Club was 
founded some years ago by the Rev. Dr. Stoddard, 
with the original intention of a " Membership from 
different professions and employments, that each might 
speak with authority upon the particular branch of 
work in life to which they were devoted." For many 
years they met at houses of the members, but of late 
years their method is to meet once a month at the 
Washington Hotel, dine, and, after dinner, have a 
special speaker upon some stated subject, followed by 
a general discussion. Washington's birthday is their 
High Festival occasion. A few years ago they made 
an innovation upon their former custom by inviting 
ladies to their annual festival. In February, 1897, the 
Odd Volumes were their guests — a red letter occasion 
in Jersey City club life. In April, 1898, the Odd Vol- 

120 



Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 121 

umes enjoyed the pleasure of entertaining the Cosmos 
Club, at an "Authors' Reading" by Mrs. Ruth McEn- 
nery Stewart. 

The Esthetic Society, a literary club of ladies and 
gentlen:ien, was founded by Mrs. Erminie A. Smith. 
In the records of Jersey City no name stands higher 
than that of Mrs. Smith, whose home was at 203 Pacific 
avenue. She was a woman of wonderful magnetic and 
personal influence, of rare culture, great ability and 
scientific attainments, a profound student along many 
lines, an expert in geology and mineralogy, an author- 
ity upon '' Indianology." Her talents were widely 
recognized. In the interest of the Ethnological Bureau 
she made personal investigations into the history 
legends and folk-lore of the Iroquois Indians, and pre- 
pared a dictionary of the Tuscarora language. She 
was an honorary member of the British Archeological 
Society, a member of the American Archeological 
Society ; the first woman elected a member of the New- 
York Academy of Sciences ; not only a member of the 
American Society for the Advancement of Science, 
but also Secretary of the Section of Anthropology. 
Withal she was a most womanly woman. Jersey City 
owes to this gifted woman a debt of gratitude, not 
alone for her influence in awakening a love for science 
and literature among the young people, but for forming 
the Esthetic Society, and in bringing hither the most 
celebrated people of the day, both American and for- 
eign visitors, to our shores. She developed an interest 
among Jersey City women in intellectual pursuits 
which has grown and deepened with the years. May her 
memory ever be held in loving remembrance. The 



122 Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 

-Esthetic Society was composed of women and men, 
many of whom were prominent in literary circles. The 
younger members of the society studied history and 
literature, and, aside from the lectures from celebri- 
ties, interesting essays were prepared by the members. 
At the death of Mrs. Smith, in 1886, the society ceased 
to exist. A short time after a few of Mrs. Smith's 
friends, principally ladies of Jersey City, raised a sum 
of money to create a prize and presented it to Vassar 
College, the interest of which is to be given in two 
prizes each year for the best work in geology and min- 
eralogy. A fine portrait of Mrs. Smith was also pre- 
sented to Vassar. This was considered a most fitting 
memorial to one who was always helpful to others. 
ODD VOLUMES. 
In the fall of 1887 Miss Cecelia Gaines proposed to 
a few friends the formation of a club for the study of 
Literature, and the Odd Volumes came into existence 
with a membership of eight which was soon increased 
to the limit of twenty-five. After a few years the limit 
was increased to thirty-five. The meetings are held 
at members houses. That it has become an ideal 
woman's club is proved by its long list of waiting 
candidates for admission, and the desire for invitations 
to its regular meetings and its special festivities. While 
the club has accomplished much good and serious work 
in its literary and historical studies, it has not lost 
sight of the social feature which has been such an im- 
portant factor in its success and popularity.-^ Miss 
Gaines is the president. In that office the club will 
not allow any change, but with the other club officers 
rotation in ofifice is the rule. 



Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 123 

JERSEY CITY WOMAN'S CLUB. 

In 1894 was formed the Jersey City Woman's Club, 
which has a membership of over two hundred and is 
unlimited. It is a department club, its several sections 
being Education, Woman's Exchange, Philanthropy, 
Town Improvement, Home, Literature, Music and 
Art. *' Its object shall be to awaken interest in subjects 
which especially concern women ; to stimulate inquiry 
in questions of public significance, and to promote 
effort toward social and educational advancement. 
Motto: * In great things, unity; in small things, 
liberty ; in all things, charity.' " Miss Gaines was the 
first president ; she was succeeded by Mrs. Alice May 
Scudder. The meetings are held at Hasbrouck Insti- 
tute, the first Thursday in each month. 

The Ramblers is a young ladies' literary club, con- 
nected with Hasbrouck Institute. The Open Hand is 
a club in the northern part of the city, for the study 
of history and literature ; although still young it has 
made most notable progress. The Ceramic club is a 
society of ladies who are enthusiastic students of china 
decorative art, and of the history of pottery and its 
associated literature. At their social meetings there is 
a fine display of artistic work of the members. Once a 
month they usually have a talk by a specialist upon 
some branch of their work. The women's clubs of 
Jersey City are all represented in the New Jersey State 
Federation of Women's Clubs, which was organized in 
1864, in response to a call of the Woman's Club of 
Orange, at Orange, with Mrs. Yardley, of Orange, as its 
first president. In October, 1896, its convention was 
held at Jersey City in the Bergen Reformed Church; 



124 Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 

a very notable occasion. At that time Miss Cecelia 
Gaines was elected president. During the past summer 
she ably represented the state at the convention in 
Denver, Colorado. 

BOAT CLUBS. 

The Orion Rowing Association, the pioneer boat 
club of Jersey City, was organized in August, 1872, 
and Judge J. H. Lippincott was its first president. 
The first club rooms were on the southwest corner of 
Newark and Baldwin avenues, those formerly occupied 
by the Hudson City Free Library. The first boat 
house was a fat factory on the meadows, a quarter of 
a mile from the Hackensack River, but the enthusiasm 
of the members was so great that they carried their 
four-oared barge to and from the river until they were 
able to secure better quarters. Through Mr. Lever- 
ing's efforts Gill Ward, one of the famous Ward broth- 
ers, at one time champion oarsmen of the world, 
coached the Orions in the fall of 1872, and again for 
several weeks in the following year. In October, 1876, 
the Orions united with the Hudson Athletic Club, 
which had been organized by Messrs. H, and C. Hoe, 
C. Rooney, F. Hill and W. H. Kuran, and was hence- 
forth known as the Orion Rowing and Athletic Asso- 
ciation. They then made their headquarters in the 
Beach block, opposite the Court House, where they 
fitted up a fine gymnasium, with an instructor from 
New York. These gymnasium privileges were ex- 
tended to a junior class. 

For many years their receptions were social events 
and largely attended by prominent people. Exhibi- 



Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 125 

tions were held every spring and autumn for many 
years at the West Side Driving Park. The inaugural 
exhibition, on Decoration Day, 1877, was a red letter 
day in athletic circles. There was the largest list of 
athletic games on record up to that date, with entries 
from most of the prominent amateur athletes in all 
lines, from all over the United States. Stages were 
run from the ferries and the elevator to the West Side 
Driving Park. From that date the Orions gained and 
held a most desirable reputation for honor, fairness and 
excellence in athletics, and became a very popular club. 
Referees and judges, on field days, from the Orion mem- 
bers were selected by athletic clubs, not only in New 
Jersey, but in other states. There are treasured in 
the club annals a long list of names of athletes who 
won on numerous fields honor and medals. In this 
same year, 1877, the club built their boat-house on the 
Hackensack River, at the foot of St. Paul's avenue, 
twenty by one hundred and twenty-five feet. On the 
lower floor the association boats are kept, eleven in 
number — a barge, two four-oared gigs, two pair-oared 
gigs, three single gigs, and one four-oared shell. The 
second floor is used for lockers and dressing rooms, 
with tables and chairs. A two-storied veranda extends 
across the building, and the upper one makes a de- 
lightful lounging place for the club members. From 
the flagstaff floats the blue and orange flag of the 
Orions. The boat-house occupies an exceptionally 
fine location. It fronts upon deep water, with a 
straightaway course of a mile and a half, where a dozen 
boats could be sent ofif abreast. At no time are they 
prevented from rowing by rough waters or heavy winds. 



126 Jersey City a?id its Historic Sites. 

Every year the Orions hold a regatta, but no entries 
are allowed from other clubs. Competition and honors 
are strictly among themselves. There is a long list of 
efficient oarsmen whose names are honored in the club. 
Orions are famous for their jolly good times ; with all 
of their hard work, they have kept up the social side 
of club life, and are deservedly popular. The Hudson 
Boat Club, which was organized about the same time 
as the Orions, had its headquarters at Communipaw 
Cove, near the Sugar House, and was at one time a 
very popular club. The Jersey City Athletic Club has 
a boat-house, and rowing forms a part of the athletic 
exercises. 

GUN CLUBS. 

In July, 1877, were organized two Gun Clubs in 
Jersey City — the Jersey City Heights and the New 
Jersey — both of which were in existence for several 
years and achieved some very fine records in pigeon 
and ball shooting. The Jersey City Heights Gun Club 
was organized July nth, with the object of *' the edu- 
cation and advancement of its members in the art of 
wing and trap shooting ; also for the enforcement of 
the game laws of this state." The rules required that 
the butt of the gun should be clear below the elbow 
when the shooter called '* pull." The club rooms for 
many years were at the northwest corner of Oakland 
and Newark avenues, and their grounds were at Marion, 
where there were held many interesting shooting 
matches among themselves, and with other clubs. 
Under their auspices were held exhibitions by such 
celebrated shooters as Dr. Carver and Capt. A. H. 



Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 127 

Bogardus ; and numerous tournaments open only to 
amateurs, besides the regular club days, when the 
members contested for their club prizes, the fifteen and 
twenty ball badges or the cup. 

One of their most celebrated contests was with the 
Fountain Club, May 31, 1883, at their grounds, at 
Prospect Park Fair Grounds, L. I. The Fountains 
were one of the most celebrated clubs in the United 
States, having won the Richmond Diamond Badge in 
1882, at the New York State shoot; also the Dean 
Richmond cup valued at % 1 ,000. The score was twenty 
men, ten birds to each man, twenty-five yards rise, 
both barrels, a friendly match for the birds only ; the 
judge for the Fountains, the referee and trap puller 
were all Fountain club men, while a member of the 
New Jersey club was judge for the Jersey City Heights 
Gun Club. Mr. Alfred Heritage was captain of the 
Jersey City Heights team. The score was : 

THE FOUNTAINS. THE JERSEY CITY HEIGHTS. 

I St squad 43 ist squad 4* 

2d " 37 2d " 43 

3d " 36 3d " 43 

4th " 45 4th " 46 

Total 161 Total. i75 

The story is still told among the old members of the 
club who claim that under the circumstances and rules 
of carrying the gun the record has never been beaten. 

The New Jersey Gun Club was organized July 1 8th, 
1877. Its object to protect and enforce the Game 
Laws of New Jersey ; to foster and encourage the im- 
provement of the dog and gun ; to promote friendly 
intercourse and generous emulation among sportsmen, 



128 Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 

and also to engage in such sports, games, and matches 
as desired by the members. The shooter was required 
to hold the butt of the gun at the hip until the bird 
was on the wing. The rifle rules were the same as 
those adopted by the State National Rifle Association, 
with the exception of the arms, which were decided by 
a two-third vote of the club. Mr. Thomas W. Harrison 
was a prominent member, also Mr. William Hughes, 
who was also a member of the Jersey City Heights 
Gun Club, and known as *' Old Reliable," for his uni- 
formly good scores. The medal of the New Jersey 
club was a retriever's head holding in its mouth a wood- 
cock with diamond eyes, costing §80. The club prize 
was a beautiful silver cup costing $200. When the 
club disbanded, about 1885, the members competed for 
final ownership of these and Mr. John Pearson won the 
medal, and Mr. Hughes the cup. 

SOCIAL CLUBS. 

The New Jersey, Palma (which began as a Rifle 
Club), the Jersey City Athletic, the Cartaret and Catho- 
lic Clubs are social clubs and immensely popular. The 
most of them extend many privileges and courtesies to 
their women friends. The Catholic Club was organized 
by Father Kelly, now of St. Mary's Church, Hoboken, 
in 1892, and was an outcome of his desire to provide a 
place of recreation for the young men and women of 
his church. It was the first club in the city where 
young women had free access and right as associate 
members to the use of the reading room, library and 
bowling alley. I believe that they are still restricted 
to certain days in that respect, and in voting they are 



Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 



129 



not upon a perfect equality with the masculine mem- 
bers, but what they have is a long step in the right di- 
rection, and has been a very great success. The club 
now has a membership of one thousand, and the plan 
is being followed by the clubs of the other Catholic 
churches. 

POLITICAL CLUBS. 
The most prominent are the Union League and 
Hudson County Democratic Society, both of which 
own handsome club houses on York street facing Van 
Vorst square. 



LIBRARIES. 

About 1866 a few gentlemen in Bergen formed the 
Bergen Library Association. They collected subscrip- 
tions and organized a library of one thousand volumes. 
A room was given for their use in Library Hall and 
Major Gaines acted as librarian and secretary. After 
a few years the interest in it died out and the books 
were sold. In 1867 a few gentlemen in Hudson City 
formed a Free Library Association and hired a room 
on the southwest corner of Newark and Baldwin ave- 
nues for the library. Books were given and bought 
until quite a respectable beginning was made. The 
ladies formed an aid society to help raise funds to 
start and support it. It existed for a few years, and 
then, for lack of funds and public interest, was discon- 
tinued. The books were packed and stored in a stable 
belonging to one of the trustees. In 1873 the Board 
of Education was authorized to establish a free library, 
with an allowance of $1,000 per year. It was kept at 
the High School and was open on Saturdays only. It 
was patronized principally by the pupils and teachers 
of the High School; in fact, there was a general im- 
pression abroad that none others were entitled to the 
privilege of the library. 

In 1884 the New Jersey Legislature passed a law 
providing for free libraries in cities where the provis- 
ions of the law were accepted by the people at the 
general election. At the first election held, through 
indifference of the voters, there was not a majority in 



Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 131 

favor of a library, and the matter rested until another 
opportunity was given in 1889. At the April election 
of that year the requisite majority was secured, in 
May the Mayor appointed a Board of Trustees to 
create a library. They were Dr. L. J. Gordon Michael 
Murray, W. C. Heppenheimer, Nelson J. H. Edge and 
Charles S. Haskell. The Mayor and City Superin- 
tendent of Schools, ex-officio members. The library 
was opened July 6th, 1891. Mr. George Watson Cole 
was the first librarian, but was soon succeeded by the 
assistant librarian. Miss Esther E. Burdick. In the 
beginning the library met with many obstacles from 
the politicians, but owing to the indefatigable energy 
of Dr. Gordon and some of his colleagues, these and 
all other hindrances were overcome. A sinking _ fund 
was started for the purchase of lots and the erection of 
suitable buildings. The site purchased fronts on Jer- 
sey avenue, with fifty-one feet on Montgomery street, 
and fifty feet on Mercer on the block east of Jersey 

avenue. . _, 

The library has established fifteen stations. These 
will be increased as there is demand. In the reading 
room three hundred and ten periodicals and newspa- 
pers are on file, and it is well patronized every day of 
the year. The reference room is a greatly appreciated 
feature of the library, and is patronized by men, women 
and school children, who always find in Miss Burdick 
a courteous, kindly, interested assistant one who 
always seems to know just where the needed knowl- 
edge is to be found. The very superior cataloguing 
of the library is due to Miss Burdick. While she >s 
invaluable to all who frequent the library, her warm- 



132 Jersey City arid its Historic Sites, 

esrsympathies seem to go out to the school children ; 
to help solve their difficulties is her greatest delight. 
The cherished hope of her heart is that in the new 
library building there may be a children's room, well 
supplied with the very best juvenile literature. She 
recognizes fully the importance to the future of our 
city of the proper direction of the minds of the chil- 
dren, and in this line is doing most noble work for her 
adopted city. The library has many excellent feat- 
ures, notably the system of book circulation among the 
schools — the works in German, French and Italian — 
and its department of books for the blind. Jersey 
City may well be proud of its library and of its trustees 
and officials. 



PARKS. 

Jersey City is lamentably deficient in parks. Before 
the city was first established, some say that there was 
a small park in front of Lyons Hotel, others assert that 
there was only one willow tree there. After the city 
came into existence there was for many years, on the 
site now occupied by the brick-yard, south of Essex 
street, between Essex and the Canal, a pleasure resort 
called the Thatched Cottage Gardens, with trees, 
flowers and vines, where there was music, balloon as- 
censions and games, and ice cream served in the sum- 
mer houses and arbors. A place very popular, not only 
with Jersey City people, but also with many New 
Yorkers. It was the scene of many interesting events, 
among others it is said that Jenny Lind sang there. 
An interesting illustration of the growth of local ex- 
pressions had its origin in a little incident connected 
with a visit of Bergen boys to the Thatched Cottage 
Gardens to see a celebrated aeronaut of the day, named 
Gilley. After their return home the boys arranged a 
balloon ascension of their own in the barn belonging 
to the father of the chief actor, who by means of ropes 
fastened about him and thrown over the beams above, 
holding an open umbrella, was drawn up by the other 
boys to what he considered a proper height, then bid- 
ding them let go, he expected to sail off by means of 
his umbrella, but instead, came suddenly to the barn 
floor, with a broken leg as the result, amid the derisive 
jeers of his mates, *' You're a Gilley!" To tins day 

133 



134 Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 

the term is used among Bergen children when an over 
smart scheme of a mate proves a failure. 

In Bergen the old orchard on the Merselis farm, near 
Orchard street, called the Merselis Grove, was for years 
a resort for picnic parties. To-day there is the Cale- 
donia Park ; the Blakely Wilson Homestead, on Bald- 
win avenue, belonging to a private corporation and 
hired out to associations for picnic and games. The 
only city parks are Van Vorst Square and Hamilton 
Park, which were originally given to the town of Van 
Vorst, the first by the Van Vorst family and the other 
by John B. Coles, the founder of the town, and the 
four park corners at the intersection of Washington 
and Grand streets. A few years ago, when there were 
still acres of woodland between Jersey City and Bergen 
Point, where people could go for a day's outing, there 
seemed less need for city parks, but with the growth of 
the city and the vast increase of the manufacturing 
population, there is necessity for the establishment at 
different points of small parks and play grounds as 
breathing places for the crowded portions of the city. 
At present the Boulevard or County road is the great 
resort on Sundays and holidays, when it is crowded 
with people in vehicles of all characters, on bicycles 
and afoot. 



JERSEY CITY OF THE PRESENT AND 
THE FUTURE. 

What of Jersey City to-day? It has been said that 
when the plan of the tide-water canal on the western 
border of the little city started on Paulus Hook failed 
to be carried out, that it was a blow to the prosperity 
of the city. Perhaps it was, but when the consolida- 
tion of all the towns in Hudson County was started in 
1869, the movement embodied greater possibilities for 
the city than were ever dreamed of by the associates. 
The first effort failed of its complete realization, but 
it will eventually be carried out. Last winter legisla- 
tive action was begun looking to the including of the 
whole of Hudson County in the Jersey City of the 
future, thus giving it an area of nearly thirty-nine thou- 
sand acres, and a magnificent water front of about 
seventy miles along the Hudson, the Kill von Kull, 
Newark Bay, the Passaic and the Hackensack, giving 
the city almost unlimited business possibilities. The 
city is already the center of several of our great rail- 
road lines, and year by year is steadily growing in com, 
mercial strength and population, which is now nearly 
one hundred and ninety-six thousand. Situated as it is, 
it combines magnificent residence locations along the 
Heights, from the northern limit of the county to Bergen 
Point, with the business sites of the lower portions of the 
city on either side of the dividing ridge. Nature has been 
lavish of her gifts to our city ; from almost any point of 
the Boulevard are magnificent views, unsurpassed in 

135 



136 Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 

any city in the country. We already have many 
beautiful streets and buildings, both public and private 
residences, and each year is adding to their number. 

An interesting feature of the city, and one that is a 
matter for congratulation, adding, as it does, to the 
historic interest of the town, and is a connecting link 
between the city of to-day and the early settlers who 
founded here the first village in New Jersey, is the fact 
that there are still in the limits of Jersey City quite a 
number of old houses built upon the Dutch plan, 
although there are but few dating beyond the present 
century. The Gautier house, on New York Bay, for 
some years the home of the Greenville Yacht Club, 
was built in 1760 by Captain Brown, and called " Re- 
tirement Hall." In the old days it was the scene of 
a lavish hospitality, and gay hunting parties were often 
gathered there. Captain Brown was the owner of 
slave ships, and the slaves were kept in the large cellar 
of his house, where the rings and staples to which they 
were chained were still in the walls, and, with the large 
fire-place, remained until a few years ago. The house 
became known as the Gautier house through the mar- 
riage of his daughter and heiress with Mr. Gautier. It 
has been held by several different owners, the latest of 
whom, the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company, are 
about to remove it. People who have resided there 
tell interesting stories of hearing the *' swish " of oars 
and grating of boats upon the beach, followed by the 
tramp of feet from the shore to the cellar, and groans, 
with the rattling of chains. Originally the house had 
a double veranda across the front, and within the 
memory of the present generation it was still a beauti- 




Oi.L) Si I' ^Iansiox. 




Interior of Old Sip Mansion. 



Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 137 

ful place, with fruit trees and grape-vines planted by, 
the original owner, still in existence not many years 
ago. Mr. Brown was a devoted patriot, and served the 
country in many capacities. Then there is the old 
Midmar house, between Gates avenue, and the Morris 
Canal, probably built by a Vreeland, some time in the 
last century. The Daniel Van Reypen house, at 320 
Fairmount avenue, was also built before the Revolu- 
tion ; a story and a half Dutch house, originally with 
two wings. When the street was laid out one wing was 
cut off, leaving it with the gable end to the street ; 
otherwise the house has not been changed much, only 
as time has brought ruin and dilapidation. 

The other old houses that are left date from the 
early part of the present century. The Van Reypen 
house, 201 Academy street, a little west of the site of 
the original house built in 1660-61, was built in 1802. 
The Sip house on the corner of Bergen avenue and 
Newkirk street, which, like the Van Reypen house has 
sheltered four generations, is probably about the same 
age. The Van Horn house near Philip street, fronting 
the New York Bay, was built in 1804, on the site of 
an earlier house. It was here that Washington Irving 
wrote his "Knickerbocker History of New York," and 
it is to this house he refers in his sketch of ** the House 
of the Four Chimneys." It has been remodelled, but 
the lower portion remains not greatly changed. 631 
Bergen avenue was built in 1805, a square two-story 
brick and stone house, with an extension at one side. 
The old tree which formerly stood in front of this 
house, about which were clustered many stories con- 
nected with Washington, was an English elm and 



138 Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 

probably set out about the time that the house was 
built. 

Then there are the Nevvkirk houses, built by the two 
families of that name. The one on Nevvkirk street and 
Tuers avenue, a little northeast of the site of the 
original house, was built in i8io. In the parlor is the 
high, carved wooden mantle, and the wide hall has the 
Dutch half doors, although the upper and lower por- 
tions are now nailed together. It is said that the 
father of the present owner, Mr. Gerritt Newkirk, who 
died in 1893, shot in Greenville, in 1873, ^^e last wild 
deer seen in Hudson County. The house 52 Sip 
avenue was built by Mr. John Newkirk, on part of the 
Newkirk farm. The stone house at 36 Church street 
was built in 1829, by a member of this family, Mr. 
Henry Newkirk. The other Newkirk family built the 
old house on the east side of Bergen avenue, between 
Magnolia avenue and the bridge, also the house on the 
southwest corner of Bergen and Jewett avenues, which 
has been remodtlled and is now one of the prettiest 
houses in Bergen. 

Another very interesting old house which has been 
remodelled is the Halmagli Van Houten house, west of 
the reservoir, on Summit avenue near Germania street. 
On the southeast corner of Bergen Square stands the 
DeMott house, still in most excellent condition. The 
old house on the southwest corner of Glenwood and 
Bergen avenues, was built about seventy-five years ago 
by Mr. George Tise, upon the site of the old Stuyvesant 
tavern, largely of the material of the former building; 
in the rear wall is the date stone of the old house, 
marked " P. S. 1762." This house was a tavern within 



Jersey City attd its Historic Sites. 139 

the memory of comparatively young people and was 
quite celebrated for the good dinners and suppers 
served there. Fricasseed snapping turtle and roast 
pig were among the choice dishes. The barns and 
sheds were on what is now the opposite corner of 
Glenwood avenue, and here, the people who came from 
a distance, put up their teams during the Sunday 
services. 

At the Five Corners are several interesting old 
houses; Riker's Tavern on the southwest corner of 
Newark and Summit avenues, and Coulter's general 
store, now a grocery store and dwelling house, on the 
southeast corner of Newark and Summit avenues. 
Coulter's Tavern was on the site now occupied by the 
Avenue House ; the old stone house built for a tavern 
by Mr. John Tise, on the northwest corner of Newark 
and Summit avenues, and the old building, formerly a 
store kept by Nicholas and Justus Jerolaman, on the 
northeast corner of Summit and Hoboken avenues. It 
is said that at the Corners, just in front of the point 
where stands the Avenue House, there was formerly a 
Liberty pole, probably erected about i8 12-14, but at a 
St. Patrick's celebration, not long before the Civil War, 
there was found in the early morning a St. Patrick 
hung in effigy upon it ; the indignant Irishmen cut the 
pole down and it was never replaced. 

Man}'' of these old houses are a story and a half, 
some fronting the street, others with the gable end to 
the street, with dormer windows in the sloping roof 
which extended out over the porch, sometimes upon 
both sides of the house ; in others the porch was only 
in front, and in the rear the roof sloped to within a few 



140 Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 

feet of the ground. One peculiarity in many of these 
early houses is that instead of using lathes, the " brown 
coat " of plaster was mixed with straw and thickly 
plastered on to the stone. Almost invariably an ex- 
tension was built at one end, with the roof a few feet 
lower than the main part. In later days this was the 
kitchen, but in olden times the kitchen was a detached 
building, and the slaves slept in the loft. In the main 
part there was a wide hall, usually through the center 
of the house, but sometimes at one end, with the Dutch 
half doors at either end. During the summer months 
the family meals were usually served in the hall ; they 
used a " comfore," a sort of chaffing dish with hot coals, 
upon which the kettle was set to boil the water for the 
tea. During the winter the living room was also the 
dining room. There are still preserved in some of 
these old houses, choice heirlooms of quaint furniture, 
rare old Delft, Prints, Psalm books with great silver 
clasps, a few old Dutch Bibles with board covers, and 
interesting relics of many kinds, of which an occasional 
glimpse is given at some loan exhibition, but usually 
they are carefully guarded from profane eyes. 

In 1806 the United States Government became pos- 
sessed of the property on Palisade avenue between 
Hoboken and Newark avenues. Here was situated the 
old building known as the Arsenal, which served as 
arsenal, barracks, and hospital during the war of 18 12- 
14, and once again as barracks in the war of 1861- 
65, the Anderson Zouaves and the New York troops 
being quartered there. Several of the soldiers who 
died there in 1812-14, are buried in the west corner of 
the cemetery on the southwest corner of Vroom street 



Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 141 

and Bergen avenue. After 1865 the old Arsenal was 
used as a tenement house until it was torn down, about 
twenty years ago. Although all trace of it is now lost, 
the memory of it should be preserved. 

Two very interesting houses in lower Jersey City 
are on Wayne street, of Ionic architecture, built about 
seventy years ago — one. No. 95, by Cornelius Van 
Vorst, and the other by Dr. Barrowe — and so care- 
fully and well built that to this day they have needed 
no repairs. The houses are forty-seven feet front by 
fifty five feet deep. The columns in front are twenty- 
eight feet high. The doors are of solid mahogany, 
and it is said that the original window glass was tinted 
and imported from Venice. The veined marble man- 
tels were also imported In the wide central hall was 
a great stove, with pipe running up through the hall 
above. This, with the grates in each room, was the 
only means of heating the house. When built the 
houses were the only ones on the block, but that was. 
too limited a space for houses as large as those. 

Another very interesting old place was the Tonnele 
homestead, built in 1837-8. In 1835 M^- Tonnele 
bought the old Dr. Hornblower place, on the west 
side of Summit avenue, a ten-acre plot, extending 
from a little south of what is now Magnolia avenue 
to the center of what is now Pavonia avenue, where it 
joined a Van Reypen farm. Dr. Hornblower served 
in the Revolution, having joined the army from Belle- 
ville. After the war he studied medicine, and came 
to this locality in 1789, and began the practice of 
medicine — the first doctor known to have practiced in 
Jersey City. He married, and built a house about the 



14-2 Jci'scy City and its Historic Sites. 

center of the block between Pavonia and Magnolia 
avenues. The date of building is not known, but 
probably it was about the beginning of the century. 
The house had a wing on either side — one used as an 
office, and the other as a kitchen. After Mr. Tonnele 
bought the property he removed the main part of the 
house to its present location on the southwest corner 
of Magnolia and Summit avenues, leaving the wings 
for a lodge and gardener's cottage. Along Summit 
avenue he built a high stone wall with iron gates, 
about where the old house had been. Inside the wall 
was a hawthorn hedge and a row of mulberry trees. 
A driveway, bordered with cherry trees, extended 
from the gate and around a circular lawn in front of 
the house, which stood on the west side of the 
grounds. It was built of trap rock, some forty feet 
square, three stories and basement, with a wide ve- 
randa in front. A wide central hall with large rooms 
on either side. The ceilings were beautifully fres- 
coed, the mantels were of Sienna marble, and the 
doors of solid mahogany. It also was heated from a 
great stove in the hall and grates in the rooms. It is 
said that John Kelly, the Tammany Sachem of New 
York, put the grates in the house. The grounds 
were beautifully laid out, and many of the fruit trees 
were imported from France. The furniture for the 
house was made by a Frenchman in New York. 

Mr. Tonnele was born in New York City ; his mother 
a daughter of General Waterbury, of Connecticut, and 
his father a Frenchman, who came to this country 
about the time of the Revolution. He founded a 
chamois glove factory in Water street. It is said that 



Jersey City and its Historic Sites, 143 

he never spoke a word of English, nor did his wife 
ever speak a word of French. Mr. Tonnele, of Jersey 
City, was the first Catholic member of the New Jersey 
Legislature, and served in county offices. He laid 
the corner stone of the Court House. The old stone 
house has passed through numerous changes in its com- 
paratively short life. From the hospitable home of 
the Tonneles it became the first home of Christ Hos- 
pital, later a tenement house. The grounds have been 
sold off in city lots, and the old walls are a dilapi- 
dated ruin. 

The question is often asked, what is there and what 
can there be in Jersey City \ It is a question that 
cannot be briefly answered ; this book only answers it 
in part. We have very much that should make us 
proud of our city. Our location is superb, our his- 
toric legacies are rich and enviable. But few Ameri- 
can cities can boast of church and school in uninter- 
rupted continuance for two hundred and thirty-eight 
years. There might be given a long list of names of 
citizens, honorable and upright men, whose lives in 
many ways reflect glory upon their city; business 
men, patriots, clergymen, lawyers and judges, who 
have made Jersey law a synonym for justice and 
right ; doctors who-e lives have been a constant bless- 
ing to the sick and suffering ; men in all walks of life, 
whose simple devotion to duty has made the world 
better. Phillips Brooks said that "no man, woman 
or child could think a good thought without the world 
being better for it." 

Of course, there are shadows, but, if we choose, they 
can easily be removed. Our streets are not as clean 



144 Jersey City and its Historic Sites. 

as we hope they soon will be, but it is claimed by good 
authority that there is less crime here than in any 
other city of its size in the world ; and city streets 
are more easily made clean than criminal characters 
reformed. Let our citizens once realize that our city 
will become just what we choose to make it, and its 
future is assured — a future of honor, of beauty, of sub- 
stantial, thorough excellence in all directions. The 
foundations are already laid. 




The Old Stone House. 



s^iAh ^ 1899 



